From Igls, AUT
(February 2, 2024) – Hans Peter Hannighofer held of teammate Nico Semmler for gold in the penultimate race of the 2023/2024 IBSF Europe Cup four-man season.
Hannighofer’s team gave him the quick push of the first heat and he used that to slide to a .17 second advantage over Semmler, with Canada’s Pat Norton in third, .11 out of the top two.
The second heat saw Switzerland’s Timo Rohner, the top non-German slider on Europe Cup this season, slide to the lead and hold that lead for one sled as Norton couldn’t quite match his first run pace.
Semmler took over the top spot with what would be the quickest run of the heat to put some pressure on his teammate Hannighofer.
Hannighofer’s team once again pushed him out front, and while Hannighofer came back to Semmler a ways, he still had enough in the bank from the first heat to hold on to win gold, .07 ahead of Semmler and .49 ahead of Rohner.
Hannighofer’s gold was his fifth straight victory in four-man competition, not counting a DNS in the race in St. Moritz.
Semmler’s silver was his third podium in four EC starts this season.
For Rohner, the bronze medal was his second of the season, and third medal in the 2023/2024 EC four-man season.
Germany took four of the top five spots in Igls, with Laurin Zern in fourth and Max Illmann in fifth, both sliders were within a tenth of a podium.
Austria’s Jakob Mandlbauer finished sixth.
Canada’s Pat Norton finished seventh, only .15 out of a medal, while teammate Taylor Austin helped put both Canadian sleds in the top ten with a ninth place effort.
Kris Horn led the way for the United States in tenth, up from 11th in the first heat. Geoff Gadbois finished 12th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Hannighofer / Kornhardt / Bosse / Gessenhardt | GER | 6 | 5.14 | 5.15 | 50.96 | 51.15 | 1:42.11 |
| 2 | Semmler / Ebert / Dahms / Neumann | GER | 11 | 5.22 | 5.18 | 51.13 | 51.05 | 1:42.18 |
| 3 | Rohner / Matthys / Novakovic / Hersperger | SUI | 9 | 5.23 | 5.19 | 51.28 | 51.32 | 1:42.60 |
| 4 | Zern / Paul / Schaller / Orthmann | GER | 12 | 5.22 | 5.18 | 51.28 | 51.39 | 1:42.67 |
| 5 | Illmann / Schenk / Laurenz / Wobeto | GER | 13 | 5.21 | 5.22 | 51.34 | 51.35 | 1:42.69 |
| 6 | Mandlbauer / Wiener / Hanschitz / Nichols-Bardi | AUT | 10 | 5.26 | 5.23 | 51.35 | 51.40 | 1:42.75 |
| 7 | Norton / Evelyn / De Souza / Bruggeling | CAN | 1 | 5.26 | 5.23 | 51.24 | 51.59 | 1:42.83 |
| 8 | Wesselink / Franjic / Franjic / Huis in ‘t Veld | NED | 8 | 5.14 | 5.12 | 51.51 | 51.46 | 1:42.97 |
| 9 | Austin / Couturier / Murray-Lawrence / McEwan | CAN | 16 | 5.35 | 5.35 | 51.62 | 51.61 | 1:43.23 |
| 10 | Horn / Simon / Johnson / Joseph | USA | 3 | 5.32 | 5.28 | 51.81 | 51.99 | 1:43.80 |
| 11 | Rohn / Binggeli / Casutt / Gnägi | SUI | 2 | 5.45 | 5.40 | 51.83 | 51.99 | 1:43.82 |
| 12 | Gadbois / Blueberg / Cheek / Storms | USA | 4 | 5.39 | 5.50 | 51.79 | 52.20 | 1:43.99 |
| 13 | Scherrer / Hofer / Grüninger / Grüninger | SUI | 20 | 5.52 | 5.49 | 52.13 | 52.01 | 1:44.14 |
| 14 | Reich / Brunner / Äberhard / Eichenberger | SUI | 25 | 5.30 | 5.31 | 52.00 | 52.18 | 1:44.18 |
| 15 | Prochazka / Petrikovic / Belsky / Jech | CZE | 21 | 5.37 | 5.37 | 51.93 | 52.28 | 1:44.21 |
| 16 | Vain / Riou / Borges / Vatrican | MON | 22 | 5.32 | 5.32 | 52.07 | 52.15 | 1:44.22 |
| 17 | Kaiser / Unterkircher / Volgger / Zech | AUT | 7 | 5.44 | 5.39 | 52.02 | 52.21 | 1:44.23 |
| 18 | Stanbridge / Kay / Riekstins / Dixon | GBR | 5 | 5.51 | 5.48 | 52.07 | 52.22 | 1:44.29 |
| 19 | Kranz / Tschofen / Lenherr / Bertschler | LIE | 18 | 5.39 | 5.40 | 52.19 | 52.33 | 1:44.52 |
| 20 | Turea / Bucur / Cordos / Dumitrache | ROU | 15 | 5.53 | 52.60 | |||
| 21 | Brown / Roberts / Williams / John | TTO | 17 | 5.69 | 52.69 | |||
| 22 | Nica / Asurdoaie / Oleinic / Dinca | ROU | 14 | 5.48 | 52.83 | |||
| 23 | Silic / Strahija / Curin / Nimac | CRO | 23 | 6.06 | 53.99 | |||
| 24 | Bangiev / Bryer / Guibert / Caffier | BUL | 24 | 6.38 | 55.81 | |||
| DNS | Baechler / Ambs / Alais/ Blairon | FRA | 19 | 5.45 | 52.51 | DNS |
