2015/2016 FIL World Cup – Men’s Luge – Race 9

From Winterberg, GER

Winterberg is known as a track where weather can play a huge factor in a race from time to time. Rain, wind, and snow have been known to cause havoc with races, and in the men’s luge event it did just that.

The sliders who came down the track early in the first heat ha a distinct advantage over those who came down later, with the top three fastest times in the first run coming from start positions 5, 13, and 3, respectively. As the heat went on, track conditions deteriorated quickly, with rain and win slowing down competitors who generally would content for the fastest runs.

As the second heat started, those who were with the slowest times came down in more favorable conditions early in the run. This led to Stepan Fedorov of Russia taking gold from 26th place in the first run. Chris Mazdzer of the United States took second with the fastest second heat run (despite a 28th fastest first run). Italy’s Dominik Fishnaller finished third with the 24th and 5th fastest runs of each heat.

Ralf Palik of Germany finished just outside of the medals in fourth, with Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl and Germany’s Felix Loch rounding out the top six.

Tucker West of the United States had the slowest run of the first heat, but put down the fourth-fastest of the second heat to finish 20th, while Canadian Mitchel Malyk finished 14th after starting in the middle of the pack in both runs.

Results: