From Winterberg, GER
(December 9, 2022) – Kaspars Rinks cruised to victory in Winterberg, beating out Marco Leger on Leger’s home track to take gold.
Rinks had the quickest start in both heats, as well as the fastest time at every single split in both runs on his way to a .342 second victory over Leger.
It was the second win on the season for Rinks.
Like Rinks ahead of him, nobody behind Leger was even close, as the German won his third straight medal to start the 2022/2023 season.
Austria’s Noah Kallan finished with a season-best bronze.
Lukas Peccei and Alex Gufler of Italy finished fourth and fifth, respectively, while the United States’ Hunter Harris finished sixth, a season-best.
Matthew Greiner of the United States entered the second run in fourth place, but trouble at the start of his second run dropped him to eighth. Marcus Mueller finished 15th, while Frank Ike and Aidan Mueller finished 17tha nd 18th to round out the American effort.
William Borger was the top Canadian in 14th, two spots ahead of teammate Theo Downey in 16th. Dylan Morse finished 22nd and Bastian van Wouw 24th in what was all four athlete’s first race of the season.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Kaspars Rinks | LAT | 11 | 4.921 | 4.939 | 55.559 | 56.065 | 1:51.624 |
| 2 | Marco Leger | GER | 12 | 4.927 | 4.950 | 55.767 | 56.199 | 1:51.966 |
| 3 | Noah Kallan | AUT | 18 | 4.990 | 5.019 | 56.010 | 56.236 | 1:52.246 |
| 4 | Lukas Peccei | ITA | 22 | 5.059 | 5.042 | 56.218 | 56.273 | 1:52.491 |
| 5 | Alex Gufler | ITA | 25 | 4.943 | 4.983 | 56.496 | 56.107 | 1:52.603 |
| 6 | Hunter Harris | USA | 14 | 5.067 | 5.074 | 56.334 | 56.550 | 1:52.884 |
| 7 | Danyil Martsinovkyy | UKR | 4 | 4.991 | 5.024 | 56.426 | 56.524 | 1:42.950 |
| 8 | Matthew Greiner | USA | 6 | 5.056 | 5.158 | 56.132 | 56.856 | 1:52.988 |
| 9 | Leon Haselrieder | ITA | 30 | 5.123 | 5.092 | 56.510 | 56.514 | 1:53.024 |
| 10 | Hannes Röder | GER | 13 | 4.936 | 4.962 | 56.424 | 56.621 | 1:53.045 |
| 11 | Markus Arnold | GER | 8 | 5.038 | 5.047 | 56.496 | 56.715 | 1:53.211 |
| 12 | Hans Fritzsch | GER | 7 | 4.976 | 5.034 | 56.312 | 56.947 | 1:53.259 |
| 13 | Fabio Helmut Zauser | AUT | 9 | 5.049 | 5.113 | 56.430 | 56.837 | 1:53.267 |
| 14 | William Borger | CAN | 29 | 5.037 | 5.054 | 56.617 | 56.764 | 1:53.381 |
| 15 | Marcus Mueller | USA | 5 | 4.959 | 4.970 | 56.648 | 56.811 | 1:53.459 |
| 16 | Theo Downey | CAN | 32 | 4.979 | 5.058 | 56.485 | 57.316 | 1:53.801 |
| 17 | Frank Ike | USA | 15 | 5.005 | 5.047 | 56.868 | 57.107 | 1:53.975 |
| 18 | Aidan Mueller | USA | 10 | 5.074 | 5.205 | 56.456 | 57.607 | 1:54.063 |
| 19 | Philipp Brunner | ITA | 31 | 5.047 | 5.029 | 56.926 | 57.211 | 1:54.137 |
| 20 | Vlad-Florin Musei | ROU | 24 | 5.089 | 5.061 | 57.106 | 57.112 | 1:54.218 |
| 21 | Manuel Wessensteiner | ITA | 20 | 5.022 | 5.060 | 57.086 | 57.448 | 1:54.534 |
| 22 | Dylan Morse | CAN | 27 | 5.065 | 5.051 | 56.878 | 57.741 | 1:54.619 |
| 23 | Ansel Haugsjaa | USA | 16 | 4.979 | 5.133 | 56.755 | 58.205 | 1:54.960 |
| 24 | Bastian van Wouw | CAN | 19 | 5.073 | 5.161 | 57.163 | 58.001 | 1:55.164 |
| 25 | Jakub Veprovsky | CZE | 1 | 5.229 | 5.279 | 57.795 | 57.798 | 1:55.593 |
| 26 | Nikola Boban | CRO | 28 | 5.224 | 5.175 | 58.023 | 58.386 | 1:56.409 |
| 27 | Lovro Kovacic | SLO | 23 | 5.199 | 5.179 | 58.446 | 58.616 | 1:57.062 |
| 28 | Roberts Dreimanis | LAT | 2 | 5.022 | 5.055 | 59.204 | 58.760 | 1:57.964 |
| 29 | Grayson Charles Laugher | AUS | 21 | 5.172 | 5.209 | 59.453 | 59.882 | 1:59.335 |
| 30 | Tian Badzukov | SLO | 26 | 5.271 | 5.247 | 59.041 | 61.975 | 2:01.016 |
| DNS | Florian Tanzer | AUT | 17 | DNS | ||||
| DNS | Rasmus Moberg | SWE | 3 | DNS |
