From Sigulda, LAT
(January 18, 2026) – Jonas Frei’s mastery of Sigulda continued as he slid to his second straight gold on the Latvian track.
Frei had to rally this time. He trailed Italy’s Flavio Menardi by a tenth of a second after the first heat, tied with Austria’s Hermann Ellmauer, with both Lativa’s Arturs Klots and Switzerland’s Christopher Stewart within two tenths of a second in fourth and fifth as well.
But for the second time in two races, it was USA’s Robert Balk making the big move of the race. From sixth after the first heat, Balk put down another outstanding run to take the lead from teammate Austin Parker and hold that lead as slider after slider couldn’t match his pace.
Eventually Frei took over from second place with a second effort that was nearly identical to his first.
That left Menardi between the Swiss slider and gold. Like Frei, Menardi initially had a run that matched his first split-for-split. But trouble late in his run dropped him out of the lead and to third, giving Frei the victory, with Balk second.
Stewart, Ellmauer, and Parker rounded out the top six.
USA’s Guillermo Castillo finished tenth, with teammates Tyler Jeffries and Doc Jacob 11th and 12th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Jonas Frei | SUI | 7 | 1.61 | 1.61 | 44.16 | 44.17 | 1:28.33 |
| 2 | Robert Balk | USA | 13 | 1.61 | 1.61 | 44.29 | 44.23 | 1:28.52 |
| 3 | Flavio Menardi | ITA | 1 | 1.62 | 1.61 | 44.06 | 44.48 | 1:28.54 |
| 4 | Christopher Stewart | SUI | 11 | 1.61 | 1.61 | 44.25 | 44.31 | 1:28.56 |
| 5 | Hermann Ellmauer | AUT | 2 | 1.61 | 1.61 | 44.16 | 44.44 | 1:28.60 |
| 6 | Austin Parker | USA | 6 | 1.61 | 1.60 | 44.30 | 44.33 | 1:28.63 |
| 7 | Arturs Klots | LAT | 4 | 1.61 | 1.61 | 44.23 | 44.45 | 1:28.68 |
| 8 | Fabrizio Caselli | ITA | 8 | 1.61 | 1.61 | 44.59 | 44.33 | 1:28.92 |
| 9 | Gabriela Knapova | CZE | 14 | 1.62 | 1.62 | 44.54 | 44.62 | 1:29.16 |
| 10 | Guillermo Castillo | USA | 10 | 1.61 | 1.61 | 44.46 | 44.74 | 1:29.20 |
| 11 | Tyler Jeffries | USA | 5 | 1.60 | 1.61 | 47.07 | 44.81 | 1:31.88 |
| 12 | Doc Jacobs | USA | 3 | 1.61 | 1.61 | 47.72 | 45.20 | 1:32.92 |
| DNS | Gabi Cha | USA | 15 | 1.61 | 47.25 | DNS | ||
| DNS | Israel Blanco | ESP | 12 | DNS | ||||
| DNS | Corie Mapp | GBR | 9 | DNS |