From Oberhof, GER
(January 23, 2026) – The FIL World Cup returned to Oberhof for the second straight weekend. Race conditions were once again lightning fast and on that face ice Felix Loch was the quickest.
Loch was 12th off the top in the first heat, and slid to a commanding lead over Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl. Subsequent sliders, including Kristers Aparjods, last week’s winner Jonas Müller, Max Langenhan and Nico Gleirscher all slid down somewhere between Loch and Kindl, with Müller only .025 behind Loch and just over a tenth ahead of Langenhan.
In the second heat Kindl took the lead from Latvia’s Gints Berzins. Gleirscher and Aparjods both took turns in the leader’s box, with Aparjods holding hte lead with Langenhan, Müller, and Loch still to come.
Langnenhan was next. HIs second start was .003 quicker than his first, but his second slide was a bit slower than the first. It was enough to hold the lead, but left the door wide open for Müller and Loch.
A week prior, Jonas Müller slid to a track record start and track record run to win gold. He was under two tenths off of that record pace on his second run, and a tenth off his first heat pace, but the two run time was enough to take over from Langenhan by over two tenths of a second with only Loch still to come.
Loch, who had come from behind to move onto the podium multiple times this season, out-started Müller, and on his second run was quicker than the field at every split on his way to hold of Müller by .089 for victory, with Müller silver and Langenhan bronze.
With the track conditions similar to last week, Loch didn’t need to make many changes to find his way to the top of the podium.
“We only changed a little bit with the sled,” Loch said after the race. “Since the track was about in the same shape as last week. Today I had two good start, last week the second start wasn’t so good. I’m really happy and am looking forward to the Olympics in two or three weeks!”
Despite winning a week prior, Müller was happy with second place behind Loch.
“I’m super happy with the weekend. To beat Felix you need to have almost two perfect runs. Today my runs weren’t perfect and that’s why Felix was ahead of me. That’s totally okay for me.”
Aparjods, Gleirscher, and Kindl rounded out the top six.
Jonny Gustafson and Matt Greiner finished 15th and 16th for the United States, while Dylan Morse was 29th for Great Britain.
With his win, Loch takes a one point lead over Müller with two races to go in the World Cup, both post-Olympics. Langenhan is third overall, with Nico Gleirscher, Aparjods, and Kindl rounding out the top six.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Felix Loch | GER | 12 | 7.078 | 7.082 | 42.288 | 42.385 | 1:24.673 |
| 2 | Jonas Müller | AUT | 14 | 7.085 | 7.089 | 42.313 | 42.449 | 1:24.762 |
| 3 | Max Langenhan | GER | 15 | 7.094 | 7.091 | 42.420 | 42.574 | 1:24.994 |
| 4 | Kristers Aparjods | LAT | 13 | 7.119 | 7.113 | 42.527 | 42.533 | 1:25.060 |
| 5 | Nico Gleirscher | AUT | 17 | 7.132 | 7.143 | 42.546 | 42.646 | 1:25.192 |
| 6 | Wolfgang Kindl | AUT | 7 | 7.145 | 7.203 | 42.643 | 42.688 | 1:25.331 |
| 7 | Gints Berzins | LAT | 8 | 7.096 | 7.104 | 42.677 | 42.672 | 1:25.349 |
| 8 | Dominik Fischnaller | ITA | 5 | 7.134 | 7.167 | 42.707 | 42.734 | 1:25.441 |
| 9 | David Gleirscher | AUT | 16 | 7.132 | 7.150 | 42.665 | 42.822 | 1:25.487 |
| 10 | David Nößler | GER | 6 | 7.166 | 7.181 | 42.728 | 42.779 | 1:25.507 |
| 11 | Timon Grancagnolo | GER | 11 | 7.174 | 7.177 | 42.769 | 42.907 | 1:25.676 |
| 12 | Matvei Perestoronin | AIN | 4 | 7.122 | 7.127 | 42.867 | 43.014 | 1:25.881 |
| 13 | Leon Felderer | ITA | 3 | 7.188 | 7.215 | 42.861 | 43.025 | 1:25.886 |
| 14 | Mateusz Sochowicz | POL | 23 | 7.113 | 7.093 | 42.975 | 42.933 | 1:25.908 |
| 15 | Jonathan Gustafson | USA | 9 | 7.165 | 7.183 | 42.917 | 42.994 | 1:25.911 |
| 16 | Matthew Greiner | USA | 1 | 7.215 | 7.207 | 42.949 | 42.991 | 1:25.940 |
| 17 | Jozef Ninis | SVK | 2 | 7.228 | 7.244 | 42.915 | 43.054 | 1:25.969 |
| 18 | Andriy Mandziy | UKR | 18 | 7.200 | 7.210 | 42.941 | 43.129 | 1:26.070 |
| 19 | Pavel Repilov | AIN | 20 | 7.185 | 7.172 | 43.107 | 43.012 | 1:26.119 |
| 20 | Anton Dukach | UKR | 21 | 7.183 | 7.178 | 43.098 | 63.093 | 1:46.191 |
| 21 | Svante Kohala | SWE | 24 | 7.173 | 43.112 | |||
| 22 | Valentin Cretu | ROU | 22 | 7.202 | 43.131 | |||
| 23 | Alexander Ferlazzo | AUS | 19 | 7.158 | 43.142 | |||
| 24 | Rasmus Moberg | SWE | 25 | 7.165 | 43.153 | |||
| 25 | Lukas Peccei | ITA | 27 | 7.191 | 43.155 | |||
| 26 | Alex Gufler | ITA | 26 | 7.206 | 43.183 | |||
| 27 | Ondrej Hyman | CZE | 28 | 7.242 | 43.442 | |||
| 28 | Eduard-Mihai Craciun | ROU | 30 | 7.241 | 43.464 | |||
| 29 | Dylan Morse | GBR | 29 | 7.247 | 43.589 | |||
| 30 | Kaspars Rinks | LAT | 10 | 7.204 | 57.039 |