Ludwig Wins on Deteriorating Sochi Track

November 28, 2021 ken Luge News, News 0

From Sochi, RUS

(November 28, 2021) – As bad as the track conditions were for the women’s race on Saturday, they managed to be even worse on Sunday for the men’s luge event.

L-R: Loch, Ludwig, Repilov (Courtesy “FIL/Galinovskis)

In temperatures nearing 60F/15.5C, the first heat saw early sliders take the lead and not relinquish it, with Kristers Aparjods in the lead from the 17th starting spot. Dominik Fischnaller (19th starter), Riks Rozitis (13th), Pavel Repilov (15th) and Chris Mazdzer (10th) rounded out the top five in the first heat, while late starters like Johannes Ludwig (30th), Felix Loch (26th) and Roman Repilov (27th) were nowhere to be found.

The second run was more of the same. The expected contenders who were well down the order had the decent ice and all catapulted up the timing sheet, while those in the lead had no chance.

Ludwig ended up taking the win on the strength of the fastest run of the second heat. He had entered the second run in 20th. Felix Loch finished second, up from 15th. Roman Repilov finished third, up from 23rd.

Max Langenhan went from 26th to fourth, while Kristers Aparjods put down an otherwise nearly flawless run to fall from first in the first heat to fifth.

David Gleirscher rounded out the top six, up from 28th in the first heat.

Tucker West led the way for the United States in 17th after entering the second heat in seventh place. Chris Mazdzer entered the second heat in fifth place, but had the 29th quickest run of the second heat and finished 20th. Jonny Gustafson finished 24th, down from ninth, to round out the American effort.

Reid Watts finished 22nd for Canada.

Results:

Pos Name Nation Bib Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Total
1 Johannes Ludwig GER 30 4.638 4.631 52.761 51.865 1:44.626
2 Felix Loch GER 26 4.646 4.645 52.675 52.109 1:44.784
3 Roman Repilov RUS 27 4.624 4.625 52.813 52.021 1:44.834
4 Max Langenhan GER 28 4.668 4.640 52.931 52.089 1:45.020
5 Kristers Aparjods LAT 17 4.652 4.647 52.116 52.911 1:45.027
6 David Gleirscher AUT 31 4.651 4.652 53.030 52.021 1:45.051
7 Kevin Fischnaller ITA 23 4.652 4.658 52.823 52.253 1:45.076
8 Aleksandr Gorbatcevich RUS 22 4.667 4.676 52.615 52.503 1:45.118
9 Gints Berzins LAT 25 4.676 4.675 52.725 52.418 1:45.143
10 Jonas Müller AUT 14 4.632 4.644 52.355 52.797 1:45.152
11 Nico Gleirscher AUT 32 4.653 4.653 53.119 52.059 1:45.178
12 Wolfgang Kindl AUT 24 4.649 4.652 52.589 52.669 1:45.258
13 Leon Felderer ITA 7 4.700 4.676 52.792 52.431 1:45.277
14 Pavel Repilov RUS 15 4.673 4.689 52.230 53.081 1:45.311
15 Riks Rozitis LAT 13 4.708 4.708 52.217 53.152 1:45.369
16 Anton Dukach UKR 11 4.649 4.669 52.290 53.086 1:45.376
17 Tucker West USA 12 4.627 4.623 52.344 53.037 1:45.381
18 Moritz Bollmann GER 18 4.631 4.627 52.695 52.716 1:45.411
19 Semen Pavlichenko RUS 29 4.627 4.626 52.763 52.691 1:45.454
20 Chris Mazdzer USA 10 4.671 4.675 52.279 53.229 1:45.508
21 Arturs Darznieks LAT 20 4.652 4.663 53.267 52.250 1:45.517
22 Reid Watts CAN 4 4.670 4.692 52.738 52.828 1:45.566
23 Chris Eißler GER 9 4.659 5.656 52.493 53.148 1:45.641
24 Jonathan Gustafson USA 1 4.699 4.696 52.397 53.281 1:45.678
25 Valentin Cretu ROU 6 4.698 4.700 52.562 53.187 1:45.749
26 Lukas Gufler ITA 2 4.681 4.679 52.485 53.324 1:45.809
27 Jozef Ninis SVK 8 4.708 4.717 52.812 53.010 1:45.822
28 Dominik Fischnaller ITA 19 4.651 4.661 52.137 53.741 1:45.878
29 Matvei Perestoronin RUS 16 4.643 4.725 52.871 53.066 1:45.937
30 Svante Kohala SWE 3 4.722 4.727 52.748 53.207 1:45.955
31 Reinhard Egger AUT 21 4.688 4.675 53.798 52.302 1:46.100
32 Andriy Mandziy UKR 5 4.672 4.723 66.783 53.063 1:59.846