Highlights Winter Olympics 2018, men's luge at Pyeongchang: India's Shiva Keshavan finishes 34th, David Gleirscher wins gold

Disappointment for Loch

A reminder of how cruel the sport can be as two-time Olympic champion Felix Loch fails to even finish among the medals! He was the hot favourite for a three-peat in Pyeongchang, but a tiny error in his final run caused him to finish sixth. Here’s his father consoling Loch after his run ended.

David Gleirscher seals luge gold!

What drama at the end of the men’s singles luge event! Two-time men’s singles Olympic champion Felix Loch will not get a medal at Pyeongchang! David Gleirscher wins gold medal with Chris Mazdzer clinching silver and Loch’s compatriot Johannes Ludwig winning the bronze medal. 

Gleirscher final time: 03:10.702 secs. Mazdzer was only 0.026 seconds off while Ludwig was 0.030 secs off.

Austria’s David Gleirscher assures himself of at least a silver medal

David Gleirscher, a man who struggled to even make it to Pyeongchang, has a brilliant run! A strong start, made a few mistakes. But still powered through to put up a great time. USA’s Chris Mazdzer, makes a few errors, but assures USA of their first medal EVER in the men’s singles luge event. Mazdzer was ranked 18th in world, but will leave South Korea as an Olympic medallist.

Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller sets track record

With a timing of 47.475, Fischnaller sets the track record. He also moves into the top of the standings. 

But remember, Austria’s David Gleirscher, USA’s Chris Mazdzer and Germany’s two-time Olympic champion Felix Loch

Repilov take top spot from Kindl

Seven more athletes to go, but Russia’s Roman Repilov dethrones Kindl from the top with a solid run in the fourth heat.

Kindl sets course record

Incredible, run from Wolfgang Kindl. He sets the track record with 47.521 in his fourth run. He’s currently first after 10 athletes. But can he stay there?

Shiva Keshavan ends his sixth Olympics in 34th spot

He’s been India’s flagbearer for six straight Winter Olympics. And he’s finished his sixth Olympics in 34th spot. The rules stipulate that only the top 20 lugers after the third run will qualify for the fourth heat. So that brings to an end Shiva’s sixth Olympics.

Hear from the champ himself

3rd heat ends with a timing of 48.900. Keep the support coming in. - Team Shiva 🇮🇳 #Shiv6 #Olympics #PyeongChang2018 #Luge (Image Source - @olympicchannel) pic.twitter.com/PvosUhdTgA

— Shiva Keshavan, OLY (@100thofasec) February 11, 2018

Shiva Keshavan finishes 34th

Shiva makes an error at the top of his run, which takes him into the wall. However, he stabilises and has a really impressive showing around corner 9 to prop up his timings. He was 28th when his run finished, but there were a few more lugers left. At the end of the third run, he finished 34th.

Tucker West messes it up

USA’s 22-year-old Tucker West has a terrible third run. He started badly, as he had a minor bobble at the top of the run. Later, he almost lost control of the sled, barging into the walls thrice, which hurt his timings terribly. He finishes with a timing of 49.593 secs, +2.059 seconds behind the day’s fastest run by Mazdzar.

Luge is a sport of such fine margins that two seconds was the timing which separated Slovakia’s Jozef Ninis from Fellix Loch after the second run. Ninis finished 37th on Saturday.

Loch on course for a three-peat

The thing to remember at this point is that the winner in the luge event is decided on the aggregate of the timings after all four runs. Two-time Olympic gold medallist Felix Loch is currently on top after finishing three runs with an aggregate timing of 2:22.859 secs.

And here’s a look at the top 10 timings at this point:

Here are top 5 at this point in the third run: 

Kindl’s disappointing outing continues

One of the pre-event favourites, Wolfgang Kindl, clocks 47.799 to stay in ninth position in the standings. Loch’s compatriot Johannes Ludwig had a decent third run just before Kindl, clocking 47.625 which was the fifth fastest time today.

Mazdzer makes his move in Run 3

America’s Chris Mazdzer catapults into silver medal standings with a track record timing of 47.534 secs. Overnight leader, Felix Loch from Germany, is still on the top of the charts. This could get really interesting! Loch, remember has won the gold medals at the last two Olympics. Can he repeat it again at Pyeongchang?

Hello and welcome to Firstpost’s liveblog of the men’s singles luge event at the 2018 Winter Olympics. India’s Shiva Keshavan, participating in his sixth and last Winter Olympics, will be in action at the Olympic Sliding Center in South Korea in a short while. The Indian was placed 34th after two runs on Saturday. HE still has two more runs on Sunday to bring up his rankings. 

Stay with us as we bring you all the action from the Olympic Sliding Center.