ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) — Nico Gleirscher of Austria won the final men’s World Cup luge race of the season on Saturday, holding off Germans Max Langenhan and Felix Loch for the victory.
Gleirscher finished in 2 minutes, 15.852 seconds in luge’s first World Cup trip to the St. Moritz track in nine years. Langenhan was 0.060 seconds back and Loch, the runaway winner of the men’s World Cup title this season, was 0.074 seconds off the pace.
Chris Mazdzer had the top finish for USA Luge, finishing 14th. Tucker West was 17th and Jonny Gustafson 21st.
In doubles, the Latvian team of Martins Bots and Roberts Plume got their first World Cup victory in 1:48.274, holding off fellow Latvians and this season’s World Cup doubles champions Andris Sics and Juris Sics by 0.064 seconds.
Ludwig Rieder and Patrick Rastner of Italy took third, 0.207 seconds back.
For the U.S., Mazdzer and Jayson Terdiman were ninth in the doubles race.
The final day of the major international luge season is Sunday, with the women’s race — where Natalie Geisenberger of Germany will look to seal her eighth seasonlong championship — and the team relay.
Geisenberger and fellow German Julia Taubitz are the only contenders left in the race for the women’s overall title; Taubitz won the crown last season while Geisenberger was out for the birth of her first child. Geisenberger needs only a 14th-place finish on Sunday to clinch the title.
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