From Laas, ITA
(January 25, 2026) – The Italian men have been dominant during the 2025/2026 FIL Alpine World Cup season, and they once again flexed their muscles with a sweep of the podium in the European Championships.
Gruber was the quick slider in the first heat by a half of a second ahead of anyone else, with teammate Alex Oberhofer in second and Ziga Kralj looking for his first career championship medal in third place.
Well back after the first run was Fabian Brunner. The Italian was nearly a full second off the pace in the first heat in sixth, but threw down the quickest run of the second heat to take the lead from Vid Kralj, and then hold that lead past Fabian Achenrainer, Mathias Kroger, and Ziga Kralj to secure a gold for Italy with two to go.
Like nearly everyone, Oberhofer was around a second slower than his first effort in the heavy snow, but his second slide was enough to hold back Brunner by .23 with Gruber still at the top of the track in Laas.
Gruber’s second start was the quickest of the heat and the second quickest of the race, behind only his first start, and Gruber’s second slide was matched only by Brunner’s as he slid to a decisive .67 victory over Oberhofer, with Brunner third in a very heavy snow.
The snow caused a brief delay in the second heat as the power was out. Gruber used that time to get his wits together, and help out with the track.
“During the power cut in the second run I got more and more nervous,” Gruber told FIL media after the race. “So I simply grabbed a broom and helped the track crew clear the fresh snow. That took my mind off things. My first run was great, the second was solid. I’m relieved that it worked out with the gold medal!”
Kralj fell just short of his first career championship medal with a fourth place finish, while Troger took fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Daniel Gruber | ITA | 25 | 16.12 | 16.23 | 62.97 | 64.42 | 2:07.39 |
| 2 | Alex Oberhofer | ITA | 24 | 16.28 | 16.45 | 63.48 | 64.58 | 2:08.06 |
| 3 | Fabian Brunner | ITA | 15 | 16.31 | 16.47 | 63.91 | 64.38 | 2:08.29 |
| 4 | Ziga Kralj | SLO | 22 | 16.50 | 16.54 | 63.57 | 64.98 | 2:08.55 |
| 5 | Mathias Troger | ITA | 26 | 16.30 | 16.40 | 63.73 | 64.98 | 2:08.71 |
| 6 | Fabian Achenrainer | AUT | 27 | 16.31 | 16.38 | 63.87 | 65.29 | 2:09.16 |
| 7 | Vid Kralj | SLO | 18 | 16.45 | 16.49 | 64.21 | 65.05 | 2:09.26 |
| 8 | Leon Auer | AUT | 20 | 16.44 | 16.58 | 64.42 | 65.84 | 2:10.26 |
| 9 | Florian Freigassner | AUT | 13 | 16.64 | 16.66 | 64.90 | 65.76 | 2:10.66 |
| 10 | Sebastian Feldhammer | AUT | 28 | 16.50 | 16.72 | 65.08 | 66.14 | 2:11.22 |
| 11 | Gabriel Halcin | SVK | 10 | 17.21 | 16.98 | 66.10 | 66.15 | 2:12.25 |
| 12 | Thomas Matthews | USA | 16 | 16.94 | 16.91 | 65.49 | 66.94 | 2:12.43 |
| 13 | Samuel Halcin | SVK | 21 | 16.85 | 16.90 | 66.08 | 66.55 | 2:12.63 |
| 14 | Jerome Almer | SUI | 17 | 17.13 | 17.27 | 65.92 | 67.91 | 2:13.83 |
| 15 | Marco Almer | SUI | 8 | 17.49 | 17.45 | 67.87 | 66.57 | 2:14.44 |
| 16 | Mason Palecek | USA | 1 | 17.14 | 17.29 | 66.85 | 67.67 | 2:14.52 |
| 17 | Louie Coburn | NZL | 6 | 17.14 | 17.10 | 67.53 | 67.22 | 2:14.75 |
| 18 | David Rydl | CZE | 9 | 17.48 | 17.39 | 67.49 | 67.48 | 2:14.97 |
| 19 | Tomas Hasek | CZE | 12 | 17.76 | 17.61 | 68.83 | 67.79 | 2:16.62 |
| 20 | Dominik Neupauer | SVK | 11 | 17.79 | 17.40 | 68.07 | 68.76 | 2:16.83 |
| 21 | Patryk Hudy | POL | 5 | 17.63 | 17.57 | 68.90 | 69.42 | 2:18.32 |
| 22 | Shohei Tanaka | SUI | 2 | 18.47 | 18.54 | 69.63 | 69.93 | 2:19.56 |
| 23 | Petar Savov | BUL | 3 | 17.81 | 17.89 | 69.90 | 69.89 | 2:19.79 |
| 24 | Konrad Plonka | POL | 14 | 18.22 | 18.29 | 69.94 | 70.77 | 2:20.71 |
| DNS | Simon Dietz | GER | 4 | DNS |