The German tobogganists did brilliantly at the second World Cup race overseas, but one person was missing from the winner’s photos: Felix Loch. The record world champion was annoyed about a wasted day.
You still have to get used to celebrating pictures without Felix Loch. For many years, the now 34-year-old was the undisputed number one in the German toboggan team. Now Max Langenhan is playing first fiddle and Loch had to cope with setbacks in the first two races of the season.
After eighth place in the individual at the start in Lake Placid, the son of national coach Norbert Loch had a really tough time last weekend (December 16, 2023) at the second World Cup stop in Whistler. He completely botched the second run, got off track before the first corner, stayed on the sled, but had no chance and ended up in second to last place. “F*** day in the office“, he commented on his mishap on Instagram
Langenhan also shines at the start of the season
Loch follows the best, and despite these disappointments, it would be a mistake to write off the father of two. The record champion will work, train and fight during the Christmas break in order to get back on track to success at the home World Cup on January 6th in Winterberg. It is doubtful that there will actually be enough to achieve great success.
The young wild ones are currently quite a bit ahead of the veterans. Above all, his teammate Max Langenhan. The Thuringian is sledding in a league of his own at the start of the season, won not only the two individual races but also the sprint and seems to have overtaken Loch and the entire world elite. Only the Austrian Jonas Müller came close to Langenhan overseas, is 70 points behind in second place in the overall standings and praised the dominator: “Max is hard to beat at the moment.” After just two races of the season it is clear that Langenhan will be the hunted.
At 19, Loch was already top of the world
There was a hole for many years. It was impressive how consistently the Berchtesgaden native delivered from year to year and outshone the competition. 14 world championship titles, seven victories in the overall World Cup and three gold medals at the Olympic Games. Record champion Loch won everything and was already the world leader at 19.
But the glory years seem to be over for the toboggan champion. In the past two winters, the father of two often had to make do with the place to the right or left of the winner, but Loch is still as motivated as he was 18 years ago.
Hole: “Never give up”
While his long-time training colleague, three-time double Olympic champion Natalie Geisenberger, put the sled in the corner, the former dominator prepared intensively in the summer. “Grow from your mistakes, never give up”, he posted on social media. Now he has to get up after setbacks at the start of the season.