Max Langenhan continues his winning streak

Whistler (FIL /15 Dec 2023) Max Langenhan is the new dominator in the Men's singles EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup. The 24-year-old German was on the rails on the high-speed track in Whistler and set the fastest time in both runs - 1:40.093 minutes. It was his eleventh World Cup victory, his ninth in a row.

But he has little experience on the track. He missed last year with a hand injury and has only done five training runs this week. But he has a lot of confidence and a fast sled. And respect for Jonas Mueller. "He is pushing me hard at the moment, I have to give everything". But Langenhan still has potential, especially at the start. The start record of 6.930 seconds, held by Olympic Champion Johannes Ludwig, is still a long way off. "I have to ask Hansi how he managed that," said Langenhan with a smile.

Second place went to Jonas Mueller, who also was on second at the season opener in Lake Placid a week ago. The Austrian was 0.255 seconds slower than Langenhan. "I am absolutely happy", said Mueller, "I had two good runs. I've never started the season as well as this year.” In the past years he always had to fight with some initial problems. That's why he is already looking forward to tomorrow's Team Relay with the premiere of the Women's doubles. Commenting on Langenhan's performance, he said: "Max is hard to beat at the moment".

Latvia's Kristers Aparjods was third (0.479 seconds behind). "Huge respect to Max, I can only applaud him," he said, "it's nice not only for me to be on the podium, but for the whole team”. Dominik Fischnaller (Italy) and Nico Gleirscher (Austria) were on the same time in 1:40.802 minutes (0.709) after the two 1374 meter runs at the Whistler Sliding Center.

Although Tucker West only finished seventh in the EBERSPAECHER World Cup, he was satisfied with his performance. After all, the US luge athlete won the FIL Americas-Pacific Championship. But only by three thousandths of a second ahead of his compatriot Jonathan Eric Gustafson. Third place, 0.226 seconds behind, went to Alexander Michael Ferlazzo of Australia. The three-time Olympian from Queensland achieved his first top-10 result in the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup.