From Deutschnofen, ITA
(January 18, 2026) – Italy dominated the men’s luge race in Deutschnofen with Daniel Gruber taking gold ahead of Mathias Troger, Fabian Brunner, and Alex Oberhofer.
Gruber was last off in the first heat but slid to a race-quickest downtime of 55.17, over a half of a second ahead of Troger, who sat in second with Oberhofer and Brunner in third and fourth.
Fabian Achenrainer was the first non-Italian in the field in fifth after the heat, with teammate Leon Auer sixth.
Ziga Kralj threw down a bit second run to take the lead from ninth place and then hold that spot past Paolo Auer, Sebastian Feldhammer, and Leon Auer to move into the top six.
Kralj was eventually bumped by Achenrainer, who only held the lead for about a minute and a half, as Brunner slid to the lead by .04 to secure gold for Italy no matter what else happened.
Oberhofer was next, and his second run was just a bit slower than Brunner’s as he fell back behind Brunner by .03, and a hundredth ahead of Achenrainer.
Troger held his spot with a terrific second run with only Gruber still to go.
Gruber’s second run was not anywhere near as quick as his first, but it was the only slide under 56 seconds in the heat, and enough to take gold by .83 ahead of Troger, with Brunner a full second-plus back in third.
Gruber’s win was his second on the season and fourth medal in four races. But despite the big win, Gruber felt like the racing was tight.
“The large margin is a little deceptive,” he said after the race. “The races so far this season have all been extremely close. Still, I’m absolutely delighted with this win!”
Troger’s second place finish was a season-best, while Brunner’s bronze was his second in a row after a tough start to the season.
Oberhofer, Achenrainer, and Kralj rounded out the top six.
With two race weekends still to go in the World Cup season, Daniel Gruber holds a commanding lead ahead of Mathias Troger. Fabian Achenrainer is the one Austrian in the top five in third, with Hannes Unterholzner and Alex Oberhofer fourth and fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Daniel Gruber | ITA | 27 | 16.40 | 16.43 | 55.17 | 55.72 | 1:50.89 |
| 2 | Mathias Troger | ITA | 25 | 16.50 | 16.49 | 55.68 | 56.04 | 1:51.72 |
| 3 | Fabian Brunner | ITA | 19 | 16.59 | 16.64 | 55.88 | 56.07 | 1:51.95 |
| 4 | Alex Oberhofer | ITA | 24 | 16.57 | 16.56 | 55.74 | 56.24 | 1:51.98 |
| 5 | Fabian Achenrainer | AUT | 26 | 16.57 | 16.54 | 55.94 | 56.05 | 1:51.99 |
| 6 | Ziga Kralj | SLO | 22 | 16.82 | 16.84 | 57.13 | 56.87 | 1:54.00 |
| 7 | Leon Auer | AUT | 21 | 16.85 | 16.85 | 56.29 | 57.80 | 1:54.09 |
| 8 | Vid Kralj | SLO | 20 | 16.86 | 16.92 | 57.24 | 57.52 | 1:54.76 |
| 9 | Paolo Auer | AUT | 17 | 16.52 | 16.67 | 57.04 | 57.80 | 1:54.84 |
| 10 | Sebastian Feldhammer | AUT | 23 | 16.70 | 16.57 | 56.78 | 58.33 | 1:55.11 |
| 11 | Samuel Halcin | SVK | 14 | 17.03 | 16.94 | 57.59 | 57.64 | 1:55.23 |
| 12 | Jerome Almer | SUI | 16 | 17.27 | 17.33 | 57.16 | 58.60 | 1:55.76 |
| 13 | Thomas Matthews | USA | 15 | 17.30 | 17.39 | 58.40 | 58.41 | 1:56.81 |
| 14 | Mason Palecek | USA | 13 | 17.30 | 17.37 | 58.57 | 58.76 | 1:57.33 |
| 15 | Louie Coburn | NZL | 11 | 17.30 | 17.15 | 59.51 | 58.13 | 1:57.64 |
| 16 | David Rydl | CZE | 6 | 17.75 | 17.54 | 59.52 | 59.30 | 1:58.82 |
| 17 | Marco Almer | SUI | 5 | 17.81 | 17.69 | 59.08 | 60.01 | 1:59.09 |
| 18 | Petar Savov | BUL | 1 | 17.93 | 17.84 | 59.99 | 60.36 | 2:00.35 |
| 19 | Shohei Tanaka | SUI | 7 | 19.04 | 18.62 | 64.58 | 62.57 | 2:07.15 |
| 20 | Tomas Hasek | CZE | 9 | 18.21 | 17.94 | 61.66 | 68.36 | 2:10.02 |
| 21 | Peter Lambacher | ITA | 3 | 16.64 | 56.16 | |||
| 22 | Matthias Lambacher | ITA | 8 | 16.60 | 56.99 | |||
| 23 | Florian Freigassner | AUT | 12 | 16.86 | 57.14 | |||
| 24 | Simon Saurer | AUT | 4 | 17.01 | 57.57 |