Luge World Champion Max Langenhan from BRC 05 Friedrichroda has achieved something almost impossible. After a major skiing error in the first run and almost a second behind, the Thuringian raced to first place at the World Cup in Altenberg on Saturday. He relegated Pyeongchang Olympic champion David Gleirscher from Austria, who was leading after run one, to second place by 0.121 seconds.
Latvia's Kristers Aparjods came third. Three-time Olympic champion Felix Loch from RC Berchtesgaden missed out on his 51st World Cup victory in fourth place after being in a promising second place at half-time.
"I was just lucky. Mistakes like that actually deserve a defeat. The fact that I then hit a run like that and the track then deteriorates like that is something you wouldn't wish on any other athlete. I'm sorry about that too. It's an outdoor sport, that's how it was," said Langenhan.
Colleague Loch achieved a similar feat once before: in December 2020, the athlete from Berchtesgaden skied from 17th place to victory on the Altenberg track. Timon Grancagnolo from Chemnitz came 13th, while Mathis Ertel from Altenberg finished 17th.
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