At the 57th FIL European Championships in Oberhof, Thuringia, the Vorarlberg native Jonas Müller emphasized his dominance in the men's single luge event. The 28-year-old secured the gold medal on Saturday, marking his third consecutive European Championship title after his victories in 2024 in Innsbruck-Igls and 2025 in Winterberg. With this win, Müller also took the lead in the overall World Cup.
The competition was held in the so-called Race-in-Race-Modus, where the World Cup results were also used for the European Championship standings. Müller won with a total time from two clean runs, narrowly ahead of the German competitors. The 36-year-old Felix Loch from Berchtesgaden finished second, trailing by 0.091 seconds, narrowly missing his fourth continental title. Local hero Max Langenhan completed the podium in third place (+0.275 seconds), but he was self-critical after a flawed first run.
Behind the leading trio, other Austrian athletes took top spots: David Gleirscher finished fifth, followed by Wolfgang Kindl and Nico Gleirscher. German starters David Nößler and Timon Grancagnolo took ninth and tenth place, respectively. For the luge elite, the championship races in the Thuringian Ice Arena served as an important gauge of form before the Winter Olympic Games, which will take place in February in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
