Germany's Max Langenhan wins Olympic men's singles luge gold, with dominating performance

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — A gold medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics weighs 506 grams, or just over 1.1 pounds. It's a fairly heavy necklace.

Sorry, Max Langenhan. The additional neck pain might be worth it.

Langenhan — a two-time defending World Cup overall champion from Germany who feared that he would have to withdraw from the men's singles competition in Cortina because of serious neck pain — became his country's latest Olympic luge champion on Sunday night by holding off Austria's Jonas Mueller and Italy's Dominik Fischnaller for the first of the 12 sliding gold medals to be awarded in these games.

“This thing’s really heavy, and I still have neck pain," Langenhan said. "And I think I’m getting more neck pain with having this on my neck.”

He finished four runs over two days in 3 minutes, 31.191 seconds. Mueller was second in 3:31.787 and Fischnaller got his second consecutive Olympic men's singles bronze medal by finishing in 3:32:125.

Langenhan posted the fourth-biggest winning margin in Olympic men's singles luge history.

USA Luge was paced by Jonny Gustafson, who finished 11th, while Olympic rookie Matthew Greiner was 20th for the Americans.

Among other notables: two-time Olympic gold medalist and current World Cup leader Felix Loch of Germany was sixth and Austria's Wolfgang Kindl — the only luge athlete in these Olympics competing in both singles and doubles — was eighth.

There's something fitting about Germany, Austria and Italy ending up on the medal stand. They're the only nations to ever win gold in men's singles at the Olympics — with Germany far, far, far ahead of the rest of that pack.

Germany — by various names — now has 12 of the 17 Olympic men's singles all-time luge gold medals. Italy has three, Austria the other two. That's it, even with all other nations spending more than a half-century chasing those three European sliding juggernauts.

Langenhan is the ninth German man to win the singles Olympic gold, and he beat serious contenders for this title. Mueller won the test event at Cortina's rebuilt Eugenio Monti track in November, while Fischnaller — the husband of longtime USA Luge women's star Emily Fischnaller, formerly Emily Sweeney — had the edge of being at home and was trying to match Armin Zoeggeler's feat from Turin 2006 and claim gold on Italian ice.

Dominik Fischnaller was mobbed by Italian sliders, all in white puffy coats, as he crossed the finish line. There was one blue coat jumping around in that mass hug as well; that would be his wife, who was wearing her U.S. colors for the occasion.

“It's so important for us, that we start this with a medal,” Dominik Fischnaller said.

The women's singles event starts Monday and finishes Tuesday. The men's doubles event is Wednesday, as is the women's doubles race — which is making its Olympic debut. And on Thursday, the team relay concludes the luge slate at these Olympics.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Italy's Dominik Fischnaller, center, celebrates winning the bronze medal as he arrives at the finish during a men's single luge run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

From left, second placed Austria's Jonas Mueller, first placed Germany's Max Langenhan and third placed Italy's Dominik Fischnaller pose with their medals after the men's single luge competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Third placed Italy's Dominik Fischnaller pose with his medal after the men's single luge competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

From left, second placed Austria's Jonas Mueller, first placed Germany's Max Langenhan and third placed Italy's Dominik Fischnaller pose with their medals after the men's single luge competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Germany's Max Langenhan reacts after winning the gold medal as he arrives at the finish during a men's single luge run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Austria's Jonas Mueller slides down the track during a men's single luge run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Italy's Dominik Fischnaller slides down the track during a men's single luge run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Germany's Max Langenhan waves as he arrives at the finish during a men's single luge run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A person holds a giant portrait of Germany's Max Langenhan in the finish area during a men's single luge run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

MILAN (AP) — Lukas Dostal was in a rush to get to the Olympics. Earlier this week, the Czech goaltender became the first NHL player to take the ice for practice with his national team.

“What would I do in Anaheim, shoot the puck to the boards and try to stop it myself? It probably wouldn’t really work," Dostal said.

He is no longer alone, as the rest of the players from the best hockey league in the world arrived in Milan on Sunday. Fresh off flying from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, the top contenders from the U.S. and Canada to Sweden, Finland and Czechia all took the ice for their first practices at the Olympics.

"It’s crazy to think about now we’re here," said Auston Matthews, who was named U.S. captain after practice. “It definitely hits you once you touch down and get to the Olympic village and get settled in, just how special and cool it is to be here.”

Dostal and about a dozen others arranged transportation to get to Italy a couple of days earlier, including Canada's Connor McDavid, Germany's Leon Draisaitl, Czechia's David Pastrnak and a quartet of Americans.

Charlie McAvoy, Zach Werenski, Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman marched in the opening ceremony with the rest of the U.S. delegation at San Siro stadium, as did Switzerland's Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Jonas Siegenthaler. Swayman called taking part “an out of body experience.”

Draisaitl and Pastrnak were among the seven men's hockey players who served as their nation's flag bearer.

“As a little boy, your biggest dream is playing in the Olympic Games,” said Switzerland's Nino Niederreiter, who was his country's flag bearer. "Being able to go out there and carry the flag was definitely something you’ll never forget and cherish forever.”

Almost all the players and coaches experiencing the newly built arena gave it rave reviews, though the joy of finally getting to the Olympics almost certainly contributed to that rosy first impression.

“Great, honestly," Sweden forward Mika Zibanejad said. “I don’t have anything negative to say. I’ve been just so stoked to be able to be part of Olympics.”

There's a reason for that. This is the first Olympics with NHL players in a dozen years, dating to Sochi in 2014, after the league opted not to participate in 2018 and pandemic-related scheduling issues caused an eleventh-hour change of plans in 2022.

That gap means an entire generation of stars, including McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel, have never represented their country on this international stage. This is the first so-called best-on-best tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, but even that had a couple of made-up teams — North Americans 23-and-under and then Europeans from various countries not included — to keep McDavid and MacKinnon from playing with two-time gold medalists Sidney Crosby, Drew Doughty and others.

The talk about doing so became reality skating on Sunday.

“Landing today and kind of going through the whole experience, getting checked into the village, it definitely feels real now," Eichel said. "I think we're all really excited to be here."

Following weeks, if not months, of concerns about the quality of the ice, it was clear the surface wasn't perfect. But it'll more than do given the circumstances.

“The ice was a little bit beat up when we were practicing today, but there have been a lot of teams on it,” U.S. coach Mike Sullivan said. "At the end of the day, both teams got to play on the same surface, so we’re thrilled to be here and we love every minute of it.”

Play gets underway Wednesday, and the U.S. and Canada open the tournament Thursday, so teams have a little bit of time to coalesce on and off the ice. But first, all the travel means the need for some rest.

“It feels like it’s been a long day," U.S. forward Jack Hughes said. "Really exciting to finally get over here and just be a part of it.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Members of the United States men's ice hockey team including Brady Tkachuk, third from right, Auston Matthews, second from right, and United States' Jack Hughes, right, gather around the net during men's ice hockey practice at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Switzerland's Roman Josi arrives for men's ice hockey practice at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The United States men's ice hockey team gathers on the ice during practice at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)