Vice World Champion Max Langenhan won the single-seater competition at the Luge World Cup in St. Moritz ahead of three-time Olympic champion Felix Loch.
The 23-year-old from Friedrichroda beat his team-mate from Berchtesgaden by a hair’s breadth in 2:13.596 minutes despite a blunder in the second run. “I’m happy to still be up there with the huge mistake,” said Langenhan.
Record world champion Loch was only eleven thousandths of a second behind after two runs after a strong race to catch up on the natural ice track. “That was a great run,” said Loch about the second round and said: “If Max doesn’t make the mistake, he wins confidently.”
Loch catches up in the overall World Cup
In the fight for the overall World Cup, the 33-year-old Loch gained a lot of ground on the leader Dominik Fischnaller – the Italian was only eighth. Before the final next weekend in Winterberg, Loch is only 36 points behind Fischnaller (757) with 721 points.
For a World Cup victory there are 100 points for the lugers. “It’s going to be exciting,” Loch said. “I’ll try to do a good race again in Winterberg. And then we’ll see who’s at the top in the end. But if it’s second in the end, I’ll be super happy too.”
Also wins in the doubles
The world champions Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal prevailed in the doubles competition. In the men’s category, six-time Olympic luge champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt won on the natural ice track ahead of world champions Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken. The Bavarian duo set a time of 1:47.183 minutes with a lead of 0.045 seconds over their teammates from Thuringia. “We are super happy, the first Moritz victory for us,” said Wendl after the first success in Switzerland.
In the battle for the overall World Cup, there is a duel with Eggert/Benecken at the season finale in Winterberg. Before the last race of the winter, Wendl/Artl have a lead of 44 points.
