From Sochi, RUS
(December 4, 2021) – Kristers Aparjods became the first men’s singles luge athlete from Latvia to win an FIL World Cup gold medal, beating out a host of contenders in Sochi.
Aparjods, who was in medal contention in the previous week’s race but fell to sixth when track conditions deteriorated, came into the second heat in second place, behind only Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller. Aparjods’s second run was again the second quickest of the heat, behind Johannes Ludwig’s track record run, but his combined time was enough to edge Ludwig by just .024 to take gold, the first for Latvia.
Ludwig finished second with a track record run on his second run, while Fischnaller finished third with a track record on his first run.
Semen Pavlichenko fell from the medals to finish fourth, while Wolfgang Kindl moved up from sixth to finish fifth. For the second time in two races Felix Loch made a huge move up the order to finish sixth from 12th in the first heat.
As the race in Sochi was a replacement for the Lake Placid stop on tour, the race doubled as the 11th America Pacific Championships. In that race, Jonny Gustafson won with his 14th place finish, ahead of Tucker West, who finished 16th in the race. Chris Mazdzer rounded out the top three with his 20th place effort.
Reid Watts of Canada crashed on his second run and received a DNF.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Kristers Aparjods | LAT | 12 | 4.629 | 4.649 | 51.490 | 51.391 | 1:42.881 |
| 2 | Johannes Ludwig | GER | 28 | 4.638 | 4.614 | 51.526 | 51.379 | 1:42.905 |
| 3 | Dominik Fischnaller | ITA | 25 | 4.649 | 4.654 | 51.461 | 51.459 | 1:42.920 |
| 4 | Semen Pavlichenko | RUS | 20 | 4.628 | 4.634 | 51.520 | 51.606 | 1:43.126 |
| 5 | Wolfgang Kindl | AUT | 22 | 4.665 | 4.649 | 51.635 | 51.524 | 1:43.159 |
| 6 | Felix Loch | ER | 30 | 4.654 | 4.636 | 51.807 | 51.391 | 1:43.198 |
| 7 | Max Langenhan | GER | 27 | 4.646 | 4.646 | 51.690 | 51.591 | 1:43.281 |
| 8 | Roman Repilov | RUS | 26 | 4.665 | 4.641 | 51.802 | 51.622 | 1:43.424 |
| 9 | Gints Berzins | LAT | 24 | 4.665 | 4.652 | 51.787 | 51.658 | 1:43.445 |
| 10 | Nico Gleirscher | AUT | 31 | 4.645 | 4.650 | 51.851 | 51.645 | 1:43.496 |
| 11 | Pavel Repilov | RUS | 15 | 4.674 | 4.670 | 51.700 | 51.830 | 1:43.530 |
| 12 | Aleksandr Gorbatcevich | RUS | 32 | 4.662 | 4.664 | 51.909 | 51.715 | 1:43.624 |
| 13 | Kevin Fischnaller | ITA | 18 | 4.656 | 4.661 | 51.887 | 51.806 | 1:43.693 |
| 14 | Jonathan Gustafson | USA | 2 | 4.680 | 4.665 | 51.800 | 51.944 | 1:43.744 |
| 15 | Jonas Müller | AUT | 17 | 4.652 | 4.648 | 51.631 | 52.130 | 1:43.761 |
| 16 | Tucker West | USA | 8 | 4.628 | 4.624 | 51.881 | 51.883 | 1:43.764 |
| 17 | Reinhard Egger | AUT | 23 | 4.674 | 4.661 | 51.907 | 51.878 | 1:43.785 |
| 18 | Leon Felderer | ITA | 16 | 4.663 | 4.665 | 52.055 | 51.762 | 1:43.817 |
| 19 | Anton Dukach | UKR | 10 | 4.656 | 4.664 | 51.987 | 51.897 | 1:43.884 |
| 20 | Chris Mazdzer | USA | 9 | 4.648 | 4.651 | 52.030 | 51.964 | 1:43.994 |
| 21 | Mortiz Bollmann | GER | 19 | 4.620 | 4.621 | 52.017 | 51.987 | 1:43.004 |
| 22 | Arturs Darznieks | LAT | 21 | 4.659 | 4.665 | 52.049 | 52.021 | 1:44.070 |
| 22 | Chris Eißler | GER | 11 | 4.640 | 4.642 | 52.053 | 52.017 | 1:44.070 |
| 24 | Jozef Ninis | SVK | 7 | 4.703 | 4.699 | 52.184 | 51.964 | 1:44.148 |
| 25 | Riks Rozitis | LAT | 13 | 4.718 | 4.829 | 51.989 | 52.162 | 1:44.151 |
| 26 | Valentin Cretu | ROU | 1 | 4.724 | 4.703 | 52.441 | 52.387 | 1:44.828 |
| 27 | Andriy Mandziy | UKR | 3 | 4.680 | 4.682 | 52.410 | 52.638 | 1:45.048 |
| 28 | Marian Skupek | SVK | 4 | 4.734 | 4.724 | 52.790 | 52.518 | 1:45.308 |
| 29 | Lukas Gufler | ITA | 6 | 4.675 | 4.694 | 52.513 | 65.420 | 1:57.933 |
| DNF | Reid Watts | CAN | 5 | 4.726 | 4.698 | 52.326 | DNF | |
| DNF | David Gleirscher | AUT | 29 | 4.650 | 4.645 | 52.082 | DNF | |
| DNF | Matvel Perestoronin | RUS | 14 | 4.646 | DNF |
