From Altenberg, GER
(Jan. 9, 2021) – Christopher Spring has had a tumultuous relationship with the sliding track in Altenberg over the years. The Canadian pilot has traditionally not finished well on the German track, and in 2012 he had a catastrophic crash that put he and his team in the hospital.
Earlier in the season when the World Championships were moved to Altenberg, Spring said “I’m extremely excited for this challenge. I mean, who doesn’t love a comeback story and this old dog still has a few tricks left.”
On Saturday, Spring busted out one of those tricks, winning gold in European Cup four-man action.
Spring came from behind. starting his second run .09 behind Germany’s Maximilian Illmann. On his second run he put down the quickest run of the heat, and a time that Illmann couldn’t match. By the end of Illmann’s second run Spring had won by .02 for his first European Cup gold medal.
Germany held the next two places, with Illmann winning silver, and Hans Peter Hannighofer and Jonas Jannusch tied for bronze.
Maxim Andrianov of Russia and Markus Treichl of Austria rounded out the top six.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Spring / Mlakar / Evelyn / Murray-Lawrence | CAN | 12 | 5.23 | 5.26 | 55.05 | 55.03 | 1:50.08 |
| 2 | Illmann / Schenk / Dahms / Pietza | GER | 3 | 5.31 | 5.27 | 54.96 | 55.14 | 1:50.10 |
| 3 | Hannighofer / Röder / Geßenhardt / Paul Hensel | GER | 5 | 5.25 | 5.23 | 55.11 | 55.39 | 1:50.50 |
| 3 | Jannusch / Ebert / Neumann / Heber | GER | 10 | 5.34 | 5.33 | 55.18 | 55.32 | 1:50.50 |
| 5 | Andrianov / Kuzmenko / Belugin / Zaytsev | RUS | 8 | 5.30 | 5.29 | 55.31 | 55.45 | 1:50.76 |
| 6 | Treichl / Glück / Mitterer / Eckschlager | AUT | 4 | 5.39 | 5.42 | 55.56 | 55.49 | 1:51.05 |
| 7 | Follador / Hufschmid / Waschle / Obrist | SUI | 7 | 5.39 | 5.44 | 55.65 | 55.71 | 1:51.36 |
| 8 | Bredikhin / Lylov / Zharovtsev / Kozlov | RUS | 11 | 5.42 | 5.43 | 55.98 | 55.88 | 1:51.86 |
| 9 | Moulinier / Herperger / Juillard / Matthys | SUI | 2 | 5.46 | 5.43 | 56.26 | 56.42 | 1:52.68 |
| 10 | Popov / Andriyanov / Kurysheva / Zhestiankin | RUS | 14 | 5.91 | 5.78 | 56.82 | 56.48 | 1:53.30 |
| 11 | Dobes / Dobes / Kopriva / Bakalar | CZE | 1 | 5.69 | 5.62 | 57.02 | 57.19 | 1:54.21 |
| DNS | Geiger / Dibo / Mandlbauer / Kaiser | AUT | 6 | 5.48 | 61.75 | DNS | ||
| DNS | Kaufmanis / Nunguris / Kirejevs / Kleinbergs | LAT | 13 | 5.41 | 58.14 | DNS | ||
| DNS | Oelsner / Jagusch / Ammour / Strauss | GER | 9 | DNS |
