Egger Wins Snow-Shortened Race in Königssee

From Königssee, GER

(Jan. 6, 2019) – It had snowed all weekend in Königssee, with both the doubles race and women’s race held in what could be considered “questionable” conditions. The men’s race looked to be no different, with snow falling over the course of the entire first run.

(Courtesy FIL TV)

The second run saw more, seemingly heavier snow. Unlike the women’s race, however, the FIL jury decided to cancel the second heat after David Gleirscher’s second run was nearly a half-second quicker than Max Langenhan’s, despite Langenhan having a seemingly clean run.

With the second run being canceled, the gold medal went to first heat leader Reinhard Egger. The gold was Egger’s first of his career, though Egger has shown signs of life this season with a pair of bronze medal World Cup runs (Whistler and Lake Placid).

Domink Fischnaller of Italy finished with a silver medal, while Germany’s Sebastian Bley finished with a World Cup career-best bronze medal.

Austria’s Jonas Müller, Russia’s Roman Repilov, and Chris Eißler of Germany rounded out the top six.

The race had a feel where the Americans could possibly work their way into the top six if the track sweeps had gone their way. Tucker West and Chris Mazdzer both were in the top ten after one run, with West finishing eighth and Mazdzer ninth, both just ahead of Felix Loch of Germany in tenth.

Jonny Gustafson finished 13th on the third American sled, while Reid Watts, the lone Canadian in the field, finished 26th.

Results:

Pos Name Nation Bib Start 1 Run 1
1 Reinhard Egger AUT 31 3.324 50.084
2 Dominik Fischnaller ITA 22 3.296 50.104
3 Sebastian Bley GER 18 3.326 50.192
4 Jonas Mueller AUT 25 3.317 50.232
5 Roman Repilov RUS 29 3.318 50.277
6 Chris Eißler GER 19 3.303 50.282
7 Inars Kivlenieks LAT 17 3.283 50.323
8 Tucker West USA 20 3.289 50.327
9 Chris Mazdzer USA 21 3.330 50.338
10 Felix Loch GER 26 3.291 50.341
11 Wolfgang Kindl AUT 27 3.332 50.362
12 Kevin Fischnaller ITA 23 3.340 50.406
13 Jonathan Gustafson USA 16 3.317 50.411
14 Armin Frauscher AUT 12 3.314 50.455
15 Max Langenhan GER 14 3.331 50.581
16 Kristers Aparjods LAT 15 3.328 50.593
17 Stepan Fedorov RUS 13 3.332 50.599
18 David Gleirscher AUT 28 3.288 50.602
19 Valentin Cretu ROU 3 3.323 50.735
20 Johannes Ludwig GER 30 3.295 50.804
21 Maksim Aravin RUS 24 3.374 50.932
22 Arturs Darznieks LAT 7 3.346 50.945
23 Maciej Kurowski POL 10 3.409 51.159
24 Aleksandr Gorbatcevich RUS 11 3.339 51.198
25 Riks Rozitis LAT 9 3.401 51.202
26 Reid Watts CAN 8 3.328 51.239
27 Semen Pavlichenko RUS 32 3.303 51.286
28 Svante Kohala SWE 2 3.404 51.354
29 Anton Dukach UKR 6 3.350 51.505
30 Theodor Turea ROU 5 3.336 51.600
31 Andriy Mandziy UKR 4 3.340 51.784
32 Ziga Birus SLO 1 3.402 51.918