The Italian finished in third place behind Germany’s Langenhan and Austria’s Mueller. Dominik: “It’s a fantastic feeling. And I’m not going to stop: we now have a fantastic track here at home, so luge in Italy will improve even more.”

Dominik Fischnaller confirms his bronze medal at the Olympic Games. After Beijing 2022, he crowned two days of perfect competition at the Cortina Sliding Center, finishing third behind Germany’s Langenhan and Austria’s Mueller. Fischnaller, already third after the first run, arrived in Cortina without any highlights in the Cup but confirmed his feeling with the Olympic track. The 32-year-old from Maranza completed his masterpiece with a safe fourth run. Gold went to Germany’s Langenhah in 3’31“191, silver to Austria’s Mueller and bronze to Fischnaller.
”It’s a fantastic feeling. I feel relieved,“ said a beaming Fischnaller. ”I didn’t sleep very well last night. My whole family is here, all my friends, more than 100 people came from Maranza, the whole fan club was there, even Erika Lechner (the first Italian luge medalist, ed.) and her brother Emilio, who is the coach who put me on a luge when I was 8 years old. I felt like I had a lot more pressure than I did in Beijing in 2022. But when I got on the track, I felt calm. I’m happy that it worked out and that I made it.” His wife Emily, a US luge athlete, was also there to celebrate: “It’s really special, not many people can do that. I’m very happy and it will stay in my mind forever.” Fischnaller has no doubts about the future: “I’m not going to stop. Now we have a fantastic track here at home, so luge in Italy will improve even more because we have a track to test the new sleds.” And even technical director Armin Zoeggeler, who knows a thing or two about Olympic medals, emphasizes the importance of finally having a track to train on: “It was essential for us, skeleton and bobsleigh. We pushed hard to get it and immediately win a medal on this beautiful track. We know the value of this track, we finally have one at home and we will need it to grow.”