From Altenberg, GER
(January 16, 2026) – It was a big day for the British men in Altenberg, with one slider taking the race gold and the other the World Cup title.
On insanely fast ice in Saxony where the top nine sliders of the first heat slid under Stefan Röttig’s old track record of 55.64, Marcus Wyatt set the quick time of the race with a record 55.17 in the first heat. Behind him, teammate Matt Weston and Germany’s Felix Keisinger, Axel Jugnk, and Christopher Grotheer with China’s Wenhao Chen all trailed by less than .2 seconds going into the second run of the race.
Chen kicked things off in the second heat and put down another big run, enough to take the lead from teammate Zheng Yin and solidify a spot in the top six.
On his home track, Jungk was next. The Olympic silver medalist gave up a bit of time at the start, and while his slide was good enough for the lead ahead of Chen, the German looked disappointed after his run, thinking a medal was out of his grasp.
Grotheer took to the ice next. The Olympic gold medalist who has multiple wins in Altenberg found himself behind Jungk early but came back throughout his second run. With the gap closing, Grotheer crossed the finish line in a tie with Jungk with three sleds still to go and needing help to get onto the podium.
Up next was Keisinger. Off the top he was the quickest of the three Germans, but as his run progressed he never looked quite as settled in his sled. A hit of the wall off of Curve 14 ended any chance of a medal for him as he slid to fourth with two to go, behind Chen.
All Matt Weston needed to do was finish his run to win the World Cup title. But he pushed off like someone racing for gold without any other care in the world. His second start, like most, was a tick slower than his first. Midway through his run it looked like Weston would give up the lead to Jungk and Grotheer, but his second run time was enough for a dead heat with the two Germans to guarantee all three at least a silver medal.
Finally it was Wyatt’s turn. Looking for his second gold medal of the season, the Brit matched his first run start time and threw down another quick run. His second effort, while slower than his first, matched the second heat downtime of Jungk and was more than enough to win gold with the final margin of victory .18 over Weston, Grotheer, and Jungk.
The win for Wyatt was the fourth of his career, and third medal on the season. For Jungk and Grotheer, the silver medal was the second medal for each in the 2025/2026 season.
As for Weston, the silver medal gave him either gold or silver in every race during the 2025/2026 campaign.
Chen was fifth, just .02 out of the three-way tie for silver, with Keisinger .13 behind Chen in sixth.
Austin Florian matched the old start record in both heats on his way to a 14th place finish. Nick Tucker finished 22nd, one spot ahead of teammate Andy Whittier in 23rd to round out the American effort.
Weston’s title was his third straight as he finished 217 points ahead of China’s Zheng Yin, who finished a career-best second overall. Wyatt finished the year in third for his second bronze Crystal Globe to go with a silver one from last season.
Jungk, Samy Maier, and Seunggi Jung rounded out the top six in the standings.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Marcus Wyatt | GBR | 1 | 4.95 | 4.95 | 55.17 | 55.30 | 1:50.47 |
| 2 | Axel Jungk | GER | 4 | 4.96 | 5.01 | 55.35 | 55.30 | 1:50.65 |
| 2 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 5 | 5.09 | 5.09 | 55.31 | 55.34 | 1:50.65 |
| 2 | Matt Weston | GBR | 7 | 4.92 | 4.94 | 55.25 | 55.40 | 1:50.65 |
| 5 | Wenhao Chen | CHN | 8 | 4.96 | 4.96 | 55.36 | 55.31 | 1:50.67 |
| 6 | Felix Keisinger | GER | 3 | 4.90 | 4.91 | 55.27 | 55.53 | 1:50.80 |
| 7 | Zheng Yin | CHN | 6 | 4.91 | 4.99 | 55.46 | 55.42 | 1:50.88 |
| 8 | Samuel Maier | AUT | 2 | 5.09 | 5.14 | 55.46 | 55.68 | 1:51.14 |
| 9 | Rasmus Johansen | DEN | 18 | 4.98 | 4.98 | 55.58 | 55.68 | 1:51.26 |
| 10 | Jisoo Kim | KOR | 16 | 4.94 | 4.91 | 55.74 | 55.72 | 1:51.46 |
| 11 | Vladyslav Heraskevych | UKR | 9 | 5.14 | 5.11 | 55.78 | 55.75 | 1:51.53 |
| 12 | Qinwei Lin | CHN | 19 | 4.79 | 4.90 | 55.67 | 55.89 | 1:51.56 |
| 13 | Lukas Nydegger | GER | 14 | 5.21 | 5.21 | 56.06 | 55.67 | 1:51.73 |
| 14 | Austin Florian | USA | 15 | 4.83 | 4.83 | 55.90 | 55.88 | 1:51.78 |
| 15 | Mattia Gaspari | ITA | 13 | 5.19 | 5.21 | 55.90 | 55.96 | 1:51.86 |
| 16 | Haifeng Zhu | CHN | 17 | 4.96 | 4.97 | 55.88 | 56.00 | 1:51.88 |
| 17 | Amedeo Bagnis | ITA | 10 | 4.95 | 4.99 | 55.90 | 56.04 | 1:51.94 |
| 18 | Vinzenz Buff | SUI | 11 | 5.16 | 5.18 | 56.25 | 56.15 | 1:52.40 |
| 19 | Yaroslav Lavreniuk | UKR | 22 | 5.23 | 5.24 | 56.35 | 56.12 | 1:52.47 |
| 20 | Pietro Drovanti | ITA | 25 | 5.04 | 5.06 | 56.34 | 56.18 | 1:52.52 |
| 21 | Florian Auer | AUT | 20 | 5.36 | 5.27 | 56.63 | 56.19 | 1:52.82 |
| 22 | Nicholas Tucker | USA | 21 | 5.12 | 5.14 | 56.71 | 56.49 | 1:53.20 |
| 23 | Andy Whittier | USA | 24 | 5.04 | 5.10 | 57.05 | 56.60 | 1:53.65 |
| 24 | Nicholas Timmings | AUS | 12 | 5.24 | 5.22 | 56.69 | 57.16 | 1:53.85 |
| 25 | Joeri van Kuppeveld | NED | 23 | 5.06 | 5.06 | 57.22 | 57.05 | 1:54.27 |
| 26 | Colin Freeling | BEL | 26 | 5.33 | 57.34 |