Max Langenhan with fifth single victory / Fischnaller wins Overall World Cup
Winterberg (FIL/26.02.2023) Max Langenhan's winning streak continues in the VELTINS EisArena Winterberg. At the World Cup final of the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup the luger from Thuringia took his fifth World Cup victory in a row. With a new track record of 51.640 seconds in the second run and an overall time of 1:43,364 he won ahead of Austria's Jonas Müller (+0,179 sec.), Nico Gleirscher (+0,239 sec.) and Wolfgang Kindl (+0,329 sec.). Italy's Dominik Fischnaller (+0.283 sec.) finished in fifth place and secured the first overall World Cup victory of his career.
The men's race for the big crystal globe remained exciting until the very end. Only 36 points separated Felix Loch (GER) from the leader Dominik Fischnaller (ITA), i.e. if Felix had won, Dominik would have had to finish at least third. After a huge mistake in the upper part of the track Felix Loch was only on ninth place after the first run and was already 0.249 seconds behind the leader Wolfgang Kindl. Dominik Fischnaller, on the other hand, came in a tie for fourth place with his teammate David Gleirscher (+0.136 sec.). With a spirited run Felix Loch improved to eighth place. Dominik Fischnaller made it exciting. He made a mistake in his second run, but managed to finish two places ahead of Felix.
He thus secured the first overall World Cup of his career with 812 points, ahead of Felix Loch (767 p.) and Max Langenhan (685 p.). Having crashed at the World Championships, South Tyrolean Dominik Fischnaller showed an impressively consistent season. The 29-year-old has been on the podium in sprint and individual six times this season, twice at the top, and finished in the top eight on each occasion. In the individual World Cup, Felix Loch finished top with 627 points, closely followed by Dominik Fischnaller (592 points) and Max Langenhan (585 points).
Max Langenhan has been in a league of his own since the beginning of the year. The 23-year-old had to miss the first three World Cups due to a hand injury and only competed in his first race of this season in Sigulda (LAT). He went to the World Championships in Oberhof with one victory and one second place in his luggage. On his home track he won World Championship silver in the individual and World Championship bronze in the Sprint. Thereafter he started his winning streak and stood on top of the podium in all races in Altenberg, Winterberg, St. Moritz and again Winterberg. This catapulted him to third place in the overall World Cup and individual World Cup. With today's victory, he has a total of eight World Cup victories under his belt.
Wolfgang Kindl, on the other hand, was denied a conciliatory end to a season that he had imagined differently. The 35-year-old had chosen winning the overall World Cup as his primary goal for the season, but after a successful start in Igls (AUT), where he finished second twice, and another second place in Whistler (CAN), he was denied another podium finish. With the fourth place today he dropped back to fourth place in the overall World Cup behind high-flyer Max Langenhan. If he had finished second, they would have shared the cristal globe.
Quotes:
Dominik Fischnaller (ITA): "I feel extremely good. The season was long and I haven't managed any top placings lately. Felix, on the other hand, was getting better and better. That the fifth place was enough today is really great. When I crossed the finish line, I didn't really know where Felix ranked after the second run, and it took me a bit to realize that I really made it."
Max Langenhan (GER): "I have to thank the track workers who really worked their magic. After all, the track record had been standing for a few years now. I thought that I had to put Wolfgang under pressure in the second run. I am very happy that it went so well. Many thanks to all the coaches, mechanics, doctors and support staff, without whom it would not have been possible to finish the season like this. It's a pity that Felix didn't win the overall World Cup, but we really like Dominik to have it!"
Felix Loch (GER): "The ranking today wasn't quite so ideal, but everything just didn't fit. Maybe the setup wasn't ideal, but I'm happy how it all worked out. The season is over and it's time to go home. Apart from the bumpy start in Innsbruck, I'm mega-happy with the season. I'm also really happy that Max has come back like that. That's really important for our team looking ahead to the next few years. Now I'm going home to my family who had to put a lot on hold."
Jonas Müller AUT): " This was a conciliatory end of a season with great ups and downs today. We started very strong in the World Cup, but had big problems in between. I personally had my season highlight at the World Championships and we were back strong again for the final in Winterberg."
Nico Gleirscher (AUT): "Max Langenhan is in a league of his own at the moment. We can only lift our hats to him. It is unbelievable what he is achieving. We have to learn our lessons and work hard on ourselves. First of all, we have material tests to do, and over the summer we have to work hard on our athletics. There are definitely still a few hundredths to gain for the future!"
The results of the 9th EBERSPÄCHER World Cup of the 2022/23 season are available at the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-weltcup-18
The final results in the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup as well as in the overall ranking can be found here: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/gesamtstaende?event_season_id=30
