From Winterberg, GER
(January 1, 2022) – Johannes Ludwig overcame deteriorating track conditions on a warm day in Winterberg to win gold in the men’s luge event.
Ludwig entered the second heat in third place, behind only leader Nico Gleirscher and Dominik Fischnaller. In the second heat the track began to deteriorate as temperatures climbed toward 55F (11.6C), and those with later starts struggled to make pace. Chris Eißler, who came into the second heat in fifth had a good run but fell out of the top ten, and while Jonas Müller managed to stay in the top five from fourth he didn’t have nearly the pace to match the leaders.
Despite those track conditions Ludwig managed to match his first run’s pace to move into the lead with only Fischnaller and Gleischer to go. Fischnaller’s time was 20th fastest which dropped him out of the medals. While Gleischer managed to stay in the medals, he fell to second, giving Ludwig the win.
The gold for Ludwig was his fourth of the season, while the silver for Gleirscher was his first.
Wolfgang Kindl struggled to find speed on the slowing track in the first heat and finished his first run in 18th place. His second run was the quickest by over a full tenth and was enough to slide him into the medals with a bronze.
Roman Repilov jumped up from 12th in the first heat to finish fourth, nearly a full tenth ahead of Müller in fifth. Felix Loch rounded out the top six.
Chris Mazdzer led the way for the United States in 20th place, three spots ahead of teammate Tucker West. Jonny Gustafson rounded out the American effort in 28th.
Canada’s Reid Watts finished 26th, up from 30th in the first heat, while Australia’s Alex Ferlazzo finished 25th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Johannes Ludwig | GER | 30 | 3.799 | 3.806 | 52.349 | 52.330 | 1:44.679 |
| 2 | Nico Gleirscher | AUT | 20 | 3.832 | 3.850 | 52.121 | 52.626 | 1:44.747 |
| 3 | Wolfgang Kindl | AUT | 28 | 3.860 | 3.854 | 52.645 | 52.215 | 1:44.860 |
| 4 | Roman Repilov | RUS | 32 | 3.809 | 3.814 | 52.572 | 52.315 | 1:44.887 |
| 5 | Jonas Müller | AUT | 25 | 3.828 | 3.842 | 52.378 | 52.605 | 1:44.983 |
| 6 | Felix Loch | GER | 21 | 3.841 | 3.847 | 52.489 | 52.497 | 1:44.986 |
| 7 | Dominik Fischnaller | ITA | 29 | 3.816 | 3.837 | 52.291 | 52.753 | 1:45.044 |
| 8 | Kristers Aparjods | LAT | 31 | 3.805 | 3.819 | 52.567 | 52.503 | 1:45.070 |
| 9 | Gints Berzins | LAT | 23 | 3.836 | 3.844 | 52.660 | 52.450 | 1:45.110 |
| 10 | Max Langenhan | GER | 26 | 3.836 | 3.841 | 52.503 | 52.675 | 1:45.178 |
| 10 | Aleksandr Gorbatcevich | RUS | 19 | 3.847 | 3.853 | 52.554 | 52.624 | 1:45.178 |
| 12 | Chris Eißler | GER | 26 | 3.836 | 3.841 | 52.444 | 52.735 | 1:45.179 |
| 13 | Leon Felderer | ITA | 16 | 3.857 | 3.864 | 52.487 | 52.723 | 1:45.210 |
| 14 | David Gleirscher | AUT | 24 | 3.846 | 3.847 | 52.804 | 52.490 | 1:45.294 |
| 15 | Riks Rozitis | LAT | 17 | 3.905 | 3.901 | 52.586 | 52.714 | 1:45.300 |
| 16 | Kevin Fischnaller | ITA | 18 | 3.849 | 3.869 | 52.459 | 52.845 | 1:45.304 |
| 17 | Matvei Perestoronin | RUS | 4 | 3.841 | 3.861 | 52.624 | 52.760 | 1:45.384 |
| 18 | Semen Pavlichenko | RUS | 27 | 3.841 | 3.834 | 52.847 | 52.538 | 1:45.385 |
| 19 | Arturs Darznieks | LAT | 15 | 3.849 | 3.862 | 52.572 | 52.816 | 1:45.388 |
| 20 | Chris Mazdzer | USA | 13 | 3.846 | 3.836 | 52.715 | 52.735 | 1:45.450 |
| 21 | Jozef Ninis | SVK | 9 | 3.907 | 3.900 | 52.836 | 52.695 | 1:45.531 |
| 22 | Moritz Bollmann | GER | 8 | 3.834 | 3.817 | 52.725 | 52.827 | 1:45.552 |
| 23 | Tucker West | USA | 23 | 3.820 | 3.801 | 52.860 | 52.731 | 1:45.591 |
| 24 | Andriy Mandziy | UKR | 7 | 3.900 | 3.904 | 52.875 | 52.824 | 1:45.699 |
| 25 | Alexander Ferlazzo | AUS | 10 | 3.827 | 3.845 | 52.844 | 52.879 | 1:45.723 |
| 26 | Reid Watts | CAN | 12 | 3.865 | 3.873 | 52.634 | 53.262 | 1:45.896 |
| 27 | Pavel Repilov | RUS | 3 | 3.865 | 3.873 | 52.634 | 53.262 | 1:45.896 |
| 28 | Jonathan Gustafson | USA | 5 | 3.826 | 3.823 | 52.995 | 52.973 | 1:45.968 |
| 29 | Marian Skupek | SVK | 1 | 3.905 | 3.904 | 53.172 | 52.872 | 1:46.044 |
| 30 | Valentin Cretu | ROU | 6 | 3.885 | 3.903 | 53.242 | 53.090 | 1:46.332 |
| DNF | Anton Dukach | UKR | 11 | 3.858 | 3.862 | 52.903 | DNF | |
| DNF | Reinhard Egger | AUT | 22 | 3.870 | 3.874 | 52.607 | DNF |
