From Igls, AUT
(January 15, 2026) – Maxmilian Illmann once again slid to gold in a race where he barely beat out teammate Hans Peter Hannifhofer for the win.
Hannighofer and Henrik Bosse slid to the lead from the ninth starting spot in the first heat, but was picked off by Illmann and Henrik Proske two sleds later. The two teams would sit one-two after the first heat, with German teams of Laurin Zern and David Steube third and Tobias Dostthaler and Felix Dahms fourth.
The second heat saw Dostthaler take the lead from Great Britain’s Nick Gleeson and Jens Hullah to secure gold for Germany, with the only question being which German would walk away with the top prize.
Zern was up next, and thanks to a strong push by Steube, Zern slid to the lead by .05 to score at least a bronze medal.
As he had the previous day, Hannighofer put down a second straight solid drive, this time .16 slower than his first but still more than enough to take the lead with onl Illmann to go. But Illmann would prove too tough as he out-slid Hannighofer by .05 in the heat and by .09 altogether for gold.
The win for Illmann was his sixth in seven races in Europe Cup two-man action.
Gleeson was the top non-German in fifth, with Latvia’s Renars Grantins and Davis Kaufmanis rounding out the top six.
Pat Norton and Mark Zanette were tenth for Canada, once again one spot ahead of Gustavo Dos Santos Ferreira and Luiz Bacca Goncalves in 12th.
With one race to go in the 2025/2026 Europe Cup two-man season, Illmann holds a commanding lead over Hannighofer, with Zern in third. Gleeson is fourth, ahead of Alexander Czudaj, who has missed the last two races but sits fourth.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Illmann / Proske | GER | 11 | 5.20 | 5.19 | 52.56 | 52.73 | 1:45.29 |
| 2 | Hannighofer / Bosse | GER | 9 | 5.19 | 5.15 | 52.61 | 52.77 | 1:45.38 |
| 3 | Zern / Steube | GER | 7 | 5.22 | 5.22 | 52.78 | 53.03 | 1:45.81 |
| 4 | Dostthaler / Dahms | GER | 6 | 5.25 | 5.28 | 52.87 | 52.99 | 1:45.86 |
| 5 | Gleeson / Hullah | GBR | 12 | 5.23 | 5.19 | 53.06 | 52.86 | 1:45.92 |
| 6 | Grantins / Kaufmanis | LAT | 21 | 5.22 | 5.22 | 52.98 | 53.05 | 1:46.03 |
| 7 | Li / Chi | CHN | 25 | 5.21 | 5.24 | 53.12 | 53.15 | 1:46.27 |
| 8 | Variola / Lambrughi | ITA | 5 | 5.18 | 5.16 | 53.03 | 53.25 | 1:46.28 |
| 9 | Prochazka / Petrikovic | CZE | 4 | 5.21 | 5.19 | 53.20 | 53.32 | 1:46.52 |
| 10 | Norton / Zanette | CAN | 2 | 5.33 | 5.32 | 53.18 | 53.54 | 1:46.72 |
| 11 | Zakrzewski / Tylkowski | POL | 18 | 5.33 | 5.34 | 53.33 | 53.43 | 1:46.76 |
| 12 | Dos Santos Ferreira / Bacca Goncalves | BRA | 3 | 5.27 | 5.28 | 53.27 | 53.57 | 1:46.84 |
| 13 | Turea / Calancea | ROU | 13 | 5.37 | 5.41 | 53.38 | 53.49 | 1:46.87 |
| 14 | Baechler / Laporal | FRA | 8 | 5.38 | 5.44 | 53.50 | 53.75 | 1:47.25 |
| 15 | Lourimi / Sosna | POL | 19 | 5.38 | 5.55 | 53.63 | 54.15 | 1:47.78 |
| 16 | Felder / Manganas | SUI | 17 | 5.46 | 5.50 | 53.91 | 53.90 | 1:47.81 |
| 17 | Diouf / Bosse | FRA | 15 | 5.24 | 5.27 | 53.99 | 53.98 | 1:47.97 |
| 18 | Beierl / Förster | AUT | 23 | 5.35 | 5.39 | 54.17 | 54.14 | 1:48.31 |
| 19 | Pals / Bante | NED | 10 | 5.58 | 5.56 | 54.31 | 54.28 | 1:48.59 |
| 20 | Pelletier / Bonnefond | FRA | 1 | 5.62 | 5.65 | 54.27 | 54.48 | 1:48.75 |
| 21 | Renggli / Brunner | SUI | 24 | 5.47 | 54.34 | |||
| 22 | Vatrican / Prevost | MON | 16 | 5.62 | 54.43 | |||
| 23 | Lagrange / Lagrange | ARG | 27 | 5.57 | 54.50 | |||
| 24 | Sletten / Lindberg | NOR | 14 | 5.85 | 54.67 | |||
| 25 | Boteff Wallace / Minazio | FRA | 26 | 5.59 | 54.80 | |||
| 26 | Bottin / Ferri | MON | 20 | 5.58 | 55.54 | |||
| 27 | Bangiev / Brown | BUL | 28 | 5.98 | 56.24 | |||
| DNS | Bindilatti / Martins | BRA | 29 | DNS | ||||
| DNS | Vogt / Ndiaye | SUI | 22 | DNS |