From Igls, AUT
(Jan. 13, 2021) – Michael Kuonen won his first career European Cup gold medal as a pilot, edging out Germay’s Philipp Zielasko for a spot atop the podium.
The Swiss pilot set the fast time in the first heat to open up a .04 second advantage over Latvia’s David Kaufmanis. On the second run, Zielasko set the fast time of the race and Kaufmanis couldn’t keep close, with the Latvian falling back to second with Kuonen to go. Kuonen’s second run was the second fastest of the heat and enough to edge out Zielasko.
The gold medal was the first for Kuonen since pushing for Clemons Bracher since January of 2018. The silver for Zielasko was his third.
Kaufmanis finished a tenth behind Zielasko for bronze.
Marco Lorenzoni finished fourth, .06 ahead of Maximilian Illmann in fifth, while Maxim Andrianov rounded out the top six.
James Brown led the way for Great Britain in 11th, with John Stanbridge and Adam Baird finishing 16th and 18th, respectively.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Kuonen / Tanner | SUI | 8 | 5.16 | 5.16 | 52.42 | 52.44 | 1:44.86 |
| 2 | Zielasko / Hertel | GER | 2 | 5.22 | 5.18 | 52.53 | 52.39 | 1:44.92 |
| 3 | Kaufmanis / Kleinbergs | LAT | 6 | 5.14 | 5.15 | 52.46 | 52.56 | 1:45.02 |
| 4 | Lorenzoni / Mariani | SUI | 15 | 5.25 | 5.24 | 52.58 | 52.63 | 1:45.21 |
| 5 | Illmann / Strauss | GER | 11 | 5.23 | 5.22 | 52.69 | 52.58 | 1:45.27 |
| 6 | Andrianov / Belugin | RUS | 4 | 5.29 | 5.29 | 52.68 | 52.61 | 1:45.29 |
| 7 | Kuzmenko / Zharovtsev | RUS | 9 | 5.15 | 5.12 | 52.70 | 52.65 | 1:45.35 |
| 8 | Jannusch / Bosse | GER | 7 | 5.24 | 5.24 | 52.68 | 52.73 | 1:45.41 |
| 9 | Dobes / Kopriva | CZE | 13 | 5.31 | 5.30 | 52.99 | 52.85 | 1:45.84 |
| 10 | Moulinier / Juillard | SUI | 10 | 5.30 | 5.30 | 53.01 | 52.86 | 1:45.87 |
| 11 | Brown / Hames | GBR | 19 | 5.32 | 5.28 | 53.05 | 52.94 | 1:45.99 |
| 12 | Rohner / Giumma | SUI | 5 | 5.29 | 5.27 | 53.07 | 52.94 | 1:46.01 |
| 13 | Stephens / Wekpe | JAM | 23 | 5.35 | 5.34 | 53.10 | 52.93 | 1:46.03 |
| 14 | Bredikhin / Zhestiankin | RUS | 12 | 5.33 | 5.33 | 53.05 | 53.06 | 1:46.11 |
| 15 | Popov / Kozlov | RUS | 14 | 5.39 | 5.38 | 53.20 | 53.18 | 1:46.38 |
| 16 | Stanbridge / Cortes-Tankard | GBR | 22 | 5.38 | 5.37 | 53.30 | 53.09 | 1:46.39 |
| 17 | Rinaldi / Riou | MON | 26 | 5.64 | 5.64 | 53.37 | 53.29 | 1:46.66 |
| 18 | Baird / Milner | GBR | 1 | 5.48 | 5.47 | 53.44 | 53.28 | 1:46.72 |
| 19 | Kaiser / Mandlbauer | AUT | 24 | 5.35 | 5.39 | 53.51 | 53.40 | 1:46.91 |
| 20 | Taborsky / Noskovic | SVK | 16 | 5.37 | 5.34 | 53.42 | 53.60 | 1:47.02 |
| 21 | Silic / Nikpalj | CRO | 18 | 5.42 | 53.74 | |||
| 22 | Novakovic / Borkovic | SRB | 22 | 5.33 | 53.81 | |||
| 23 | Baechler / Drouillet | FRA | 3 | 5.50 | 53.91 | |||
| 24 | Behounek / Bakalar | CZE | 21 | 5.46 | 53.97 | |||
| 25 | Ohanlon / Williamson | AUS | 17 | 5.56 | 53.98 | |||
| 26 | Bagge / Darville | DEN | 25 | 5.55 | 54.47 | |||
| 27 | Nica / Calancea | ROU | 27 | 5.47 | 54.56 | |||
| 28 | Nimac / Nimac | CRO | 28 | 6.28 | 56.59 |
