Daniel Gruber has reason to celebrate. © Ulrich Wilhelm

Daniel Gruber is crowned overall winner for the first time.

The 2025/2026 Alpine Luge World Cup concluded on Saturday evening with the finals in the Jaufental valley. The Italians celebrated a quadruple victory in the women's singles, while the hosts secured a triple victory in the men's singles.

February 21, 2026

From: pm

The 660-meter-long Tonnerboden track at the Wipptal luge center lived up to its reputation for unpredictable results once again at the 2025/2026 season finale. In the Night Race, held in heavy snowfall, European Champion Nina Castiglioni celebrated her first World Cup victory, ahead of her older sister Jenny Castiglioni and Nadine Staffler. With a perfect second run, Nina Castiglioni, who was in third place after the first run, took the lead in 1:46.33 minutes. Nadine Staffler, second at the halfway point, finished 0,53 seconds behind the World Cup newcomer.

Jenny Castiglioni, the leader after the first run, didn't find the fastest line and missed her first World Cup victory by 0,30 seconds. Nina Castiglioni's maiden win meant that overall winner Riccarda Ruetz of Austria (+1,24 seconds) had to settle for fifth place.

Joy is huge

“I’m speechless. The second run was absolutely fantastic. To finish the season with my first World Cup victory is simply wonderful,” said Nina Castiglioni, tears welling up. “Of course, I would have loved to win, but my second run didn’t go so well. But I’m incredibly happy for my sister,” explained 20-year-old Jenny Castiglioni. In the women’s singles, Riccarda Ruetz had already secured the title before the final run. In the end, the Austrian finished with 610 points, more than 100 points ahead of Nina Castiglioni (501) and Lisa Walch from Germany (480), who, with a sixth-place finish in the final, slipped back to third place in the overall World Cup standings.

The women's podium.

“I wasn’t lacking energy; I usually go into every race aiming to win. But today, we probably made a mistake with the equipment setup in the first run. It’s a shame the season is already over,” explained Ruetz after receiving her first overall World Cup title. “Winning the overall World Cup means a lot to me. It was my best season so far.”

Gruber is crowned the overall winner

In the men's singles final, two lugers, Daniel Gruber from South Tyrol and Fabian Achenrainer from Austria, were still vying for the overall World Cup title. Both showed nerves in the first run: Gruber was only in fourth place at the halfway point, while Achenrainer was in fifth. After the second run, Achenrainer moved up to fourth, just two hundredths of a second ahead of Gruber in fifth. Thus, Gruber secured his first overall victory with a total of 580 points, ahead of Achenrainer (530) and Hannes Unterholzner (424).

Hannes Unterholzner took the day's victory.

“I’m incredibly relieved. It was only on the way to the final that I first realized I could win the overall title. That wasn’t a good idea; I put so much pressure on myself and almost blew it. Now I just want to celebrate,” Gruber laughed. “The snowfall and soft ice didn’t work in my favor. Conditions like that don’t suit my style of riding, and I need to work on that,” Achenrainer admitted, congratulating Gruber on his outstanding season: “He’s a well-deserved overall winner.”

Hannes Unterholzner secured the day's victory with a total time of 1:43.90 minutes, posting the fastest time in both runs. His teammates Matthias Lambacher (+0,51 seconds) and Alex Oberhofer (+0,53) took the runner-up positions. "Those were two strong runs; the conditions were difficult, but I was able to adapt well," Unterholzner analyzed his second win of the season. "The track in Jaufental seems to suit me," rejoiced doubles specialist Matthias Lambacher, who reached the podium in singles for the first time at the Jaufental World Cup in the 2023/2024 season: "That's also one of the reasons why we're 90 percent certain we won't be competing in doubles anymore. My brother Peter and I simply want to concentrate more on singles, because these days it's almost impossible to be successful in both disciplines."

A positive conclusion

Italy won the Nations Cup with 5.372 points, ahead of Austria (3.798) and Germany (1.030). A total of 12 nations qualified for the World Cup standings. Andreas Castiglioni, Director of Sport and Technology for Alpine Luge, drew a thoroughly positive conclusion: "The new generation delivered; we had an extremely exciting season, with four first-time winners in both the women's and men's singles events. And the organizing clubs raised the World Cup to a new level with their superbly organized races."

Walter Volgger, head of the organizing committee in Jaufental, is very pleased with the World Cup Final, held for the first time on the Tonnerboden track: “The weather gods may not have been entirely on our side. Wet snowfall is simply not ideal. But it showed us that we had worked hard all winter; the ice on the track held up, and it was an absolutely fair race for everyone. This is thanks to our volunteers; the track workers tirelessly swept the fresh snow off the track. We wanted to organize a worthy World Cup Final, and we succeeded.” The Tonnerboden track's “race calendar” is only missing a World Championship in the senior category, which is expected to take place in 2029, following the FIL Youth Games next year.

The results:

Top 3 Women's Singles Final Jaufental
Nina Castiglioni (ITA), 1:46.33 minutes
Jenny Castiglioni (ITA), +0,30 seconds
Nadine Staffler (ITA), +0,53 seconds

Top 3 Men's Singles, Jaufental Final
Hannes Unterholzner (ITA), 1:43.90 minutes
Matthias Lambacher (ITA), + 0,51 seconds
Alex Oberhofer (ITA), +0,53 seconds

Overall World Cup

Top 3 single-seater women
Riccarda Ruetz (AUT) 610 points
Nina Castiglioni (ITA) 501 points
Lisa Walch (GER) 480 points

Top 3 single-seater men
Daniel Gruber (ITA) 580 points
Fabian Achenrainer (ITA) 530 points
Hannes Unterholzner (ITA) 424 points

Top 3 double seaters
Matthias Lambacher/Peter Lambacher (ITA) 585 points
Tobias Paur/Andreas Hofer (ITA) 560 points
Maximilian Pichler/Nico Edlinger (AUT) 540 points