Germany’s first gold medal at Milan Cortina 2026 has fittingly come in luge as 26-year-old Max Langenhan captured the singles crown by nearly six tenths of a second at Cortina Sliding Centre on Sunday. 

RESULTS

The reigning world champion never wavered, going fastest of the field on each of his four runs and setting consecutive track records on all four. 

“It’s one childhood dream I could achieve today, and I’m super happy," Langenhan told reporters at Cortina Sliding Centre following his final run. "I could crush this medal in 1000 pieces because I have so many people at home who are a big part of this medal and these people are pushing me every time, every day so hard to my limits. In the end, this medal is for them.”

Taking the silver medal in his Olympic debut was 28-year-old Jonas Mueller of Austria, four years after he did not qualify for Beijing 2022. 

Mueller, who won the test event at the Olympic track in November 2025, told reporters that keeping his composure was key to getting the result of a lifetime.

"Today I was very calm. I wasn’t too nervous," Mueller said. "I told myself, ‘do the same thing as I’ve done all season’, and now I’m here with this silver medal.”

Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller won his second straight bronze medal in the event, this time at his home track and in front of his home crowd. 

"I felt like I had so much more pressure than I had in Beijing (in 2022)," Fischnaller told reporters. "I'm happy that it worked out."

Team USA’s Jonny Gustafson finished 11th, his career-best Olympic result in the discipline after he came in 19th at Beijing 2022. Gustafson’s teammate Matt Greiner finished 20th in his Olympic debut. 

Langenhan’s triumph marks Germany’s 39th gold medal and 88th medal overall in luge since the sport first joined the Olympic program in 1964. A German athlete has won the men’s singles event in seven of the last 10 Olympic Games and 12 of the 17 available in the history of the event. Langenhan now joins the likes of Beijing 2022 gold medalist Johannes Ludwig and five-time Olympian Felix Loch, who won the event at Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014. Loch finished 6th on Saturday. 

Men's luge competition continues on Wednesday, Feb. 11 with the doubles event. Women's singles luge begins Monday, Feb. 9, with Americans Summer Britcher, Ashley Fahrquarson and Emily Fischnaller set to compete. The mixed team relay will see the top men's and women's sleds in each discipline vie for gold in the fourth Olympic iteration of the event, the first three of which Germany has won.