Gruber Wins in Vatra Dornei, Takes World Cup Lead

January 19, 2020 ken Luge News, News 0

From Vatra Dornei, ROU

Jan. 19, 2020 – Alex Gruber held off Italian teammate Patrick Pigneter to win his second gold of the season in Vatra Dornei.

Gruber’s first run was the fastest of the race, with nobody else within a quarter second. Michael Scheikl, the World Cup leader coming into the event sat second, with Saturday’s doubles winner Patrick Pigneter in third.

On the second run Pigneter put down a time that nearly matched Gruber’s first attempt down the Romanian hill to move into the lead with only Scheikl and Gruber to come. Scheikl’s second run was better than his first, but not enough to hold off Pigneter. Gruber’s run, on the other hand, was only the third quickest but the strength of his first run was enough to overcome his second run deficit, giving him the victory by .07 over Pigneter and .1 over Scheikl in the closest race of the season.

Thomas Kammerlander of Austria never really contended in the race, finishing fourth, while Florian Clara and Christian Schopf rounded out the top six.

Like the race itself, the men’s luge point battle is tight, with four men within ten points. Gruber’s win moved him into the top spot, with Scheikl and Kammerlander tied for second, only five points back. Pigneter is fourth, only ten points out.

Results:

Pos Name Nation Bib Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Total
1 Alex Gruber ITA 31 2.86 2.87 50.05 50.35 1:40.40
2 Patrick Pigneter ITA 32 2.89 2.85 50.39 50.08 1:40.47
3 Michael Scheikl AUT 33 2.88 2.86 50.34 50.16 1:40.50
4 Thomas Kammerlander AUT 34 2.84 2.87 50.46 50.53 1:40.99
5 Florain Clara ITA 28 2.97 3.00 50.73 51.16 1:41.89
6 Christian Schopf AUT 24 2.83 2.80 51.41 50.70 1:42.11
7 Grigory Bukin RUS 30 2.83 2.81 51.63 51.04 1:42.67
8 Matthias Lambacer ITA 7 2.96 2.91 51.38 51.65 1:43.03
9 Fabian Achenrainer AUT 19 3.02 2.93 51.64 51.91 1:43.55
10 Aleksandr Egorov RUS 29 2.94 2.94 51.83 51.78 1:43.61
11 Stanislav Kovshik RUS 27 3.00 2.98 52.19 51.79 1:43.98
12 Aleksei Martianov RUS 9 2.98 3.04 52.65 53.21 1:45.86
13 Adam Jedrzejko POL 21 3.04 3.04 53.77 53.90 1:47.67
14 Oliver Schiller GER 23 3.00 2.98 53.40 54.40 1:47.80
15 Isa Guzeloglu TUR 20 3.09 3.04 53.71 54.66 1:48.37
16 Josef Limmer GER 22 3.11 3.12 54.03 54.92 1:48.95
17 Leonardo de Oliveira Silva BRA 18 3.15 3.16 55.71 55.87 1:51.58
18 Yusuf Ozcan TUR 16 3.04 3.01 56.24 55.50 1:51.74
19 David Rydl CZE 14 3.36 3.33 57.09 56.22 1:53.31
20 Aleksandr Milkov KAZ 15 3.17 3.13 57.07 56.53 1:53.60
21 Toma Hasek CZE 5 3.36 3.34 57.38 56.98 1:54.36
22 Szymon Majdak POL 13 3.26 3.21 57.78 57.19 1:54.97
23 Denis Lebedev KAZ 12 3.20 3.15 1:00.43 57.83 1:58.26
24 Konrad Stano POL 10 3.42 3.36 59.82 1:00.14 1:59.96
25 Julio Dante de Moraes BRA 1 3.60 3.40 1:13.43 1:12.13 2:25.56