Nico Gleirscher stands out from Austria's luge quartet

Innsbruck (FIL/08 Dec 2024) The Austrian men put in a powerful performance at the EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup at the Olympic ice track in Innsbruck-Igls. First to fourth places went to red-white-red lugers. “What the Austrians showed today – hats off. That was really strong,” said Felix Loch. One of the Austrians stood out in particular: Nico Gleirscher. The 27-year-old Sprint World Championship's silver medalist took 1:39.713 minutes for his two runs. Jonas Müller was 0.095 seconds behind, David Gleirscher was 0.453 seconds slower. Wolfgang Kindl missed out on his 33rd podium by finishing fourth, 0.637 seconds behind. Nico Gleirscher was showered with praise by his competitors afterwards. “Nico has been so fast all week. His victory is absolutely justified,” said brother David Gleirscher. ‘Nico is driving incredibly well here in Igls, he can take a few more risks on the track, so his success is fully justified,’ said Müller. But what does the triumphant say after his fifth World Cup victory? ‘I don't know what the others are doing? I just went down,’ said Nico Gleirscher.

Jonas Müller had some consolation. The 27-year-old had improved Johannes Ludwig's (Germany) track record from 2011 of 5.319 seconds to 5.299 seconds in the first run. This means that, in addition to the track record (29.288), he now also holds the record for the fastest start. “Jonas's start time was really impressive,” was Loch's verdict. “I'm super happy with my starting record,” said Müller.

But what about Max Langenhan, the winner of the opening race in Lillehammer? He finished fifth, making him best-of-the-rest. The 25-year-old German was 0.688 seconds behind. His conclusion was correspondingly critical: ”Both runs were bad, that's just the way it is. If I go straight twice, I can easily fight for a place on the podium. It's just not going to work like that.” Three-time Olympic champion Loch (0.709 seconds back) also had a similar opinion of his performance: ‘In terms of the sled, I was actually well positioned, but my runs could have been a little better.’ Both are now counting on the coming weekend, when the World Cup circuit is stopping in Oberhof.

When it snows, as it did in Igls on Sunday, the sleds of the Italian lugers usually run particularly fast. But Dominik Fischnaller had no explanation as to why that was not the case. He finished seventh, 0.763 seconds behind, just ahead of Latvian Kristers Aparjods (0.808).