54th World Cup victory – Felix Loch picks up speed

3rd EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup in Lake Placid (USA)

Lake Placid (FIL/20 Dec 2025) Felix Loch is picking up speed in the EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup. In Lake Placid, the 36-year-old German secured his second victory of the season, the 54th of his career. The three-time Olympic champion can look back on a very eventful week. “I crashed in the first training run,” said Loch, “and in the end I'm standing at the top of the podium.” He completed his two runs in 1:41.766 minutes. At the award ceremony, he was also presented with the yellow jersey as the overall World Cup leader.

Loch was followed by his teammate Max Langenhan in second place. The world champion took 0.054 seconds longer to complete his two runs in the ice track at Mount Van Hoevenberg. “Felix in first place and me in second place is the best team result we've ever had in Lake Placid,” said a delighted Langenhan. However, he also saw room for improvement: “We definitely need to improve our start ahead of the Olympics.” Langenhan only managed the best start in the second run.

In third place (0.203 seconds behind), Wolfgang Kindl was extremely pleased, especially since he was only fifth fastest after the first run. “In the first run, everything was very close, I was well embedded in the Austrian pack,” he said, “I had rated Jonas more highly, but he made a mistake in the middle section, which worked in my favor.”

Jonas Müller remained in fourth place (0.220). Kristers Aparjods (LAT) fell back to fifth place (0.283) after the third-fastest run. Jonathan Gustafson won the America-Pacific Championship ahead of his US teammate Tucker West. Third place went to Alexander Ferlazzo from Australia.