David Gleirscher (born 23 July 1994)[1] is an Austrian luger. He competed for Austria in the 2015–16 Luge World Cup in the men's singles and finished tenth in the points standings.[2] In men's luge at the 2018 Winter Olympics he became a surprise champion after the favorite, Felix Loch, made a mistake in the last run and dropped out of the medals. Before the Olympic win, Gleirscher did not have a single World Cup podium appearance.[3]

David Gleirscher
David Gleirscher in 2024
Personal information
Born (1994-07-23) 23 July 1994 (age 31)
Hall in Tirol, Austria
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight90 kg (198 lb)
Sport
CountryAustria
SportLuge
Event
Singles

Family

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David Gleirscher's father, Gerhard, is a retired luger who won three world championship medals, including both gold in the team event and a bronze in the men's single event in 1997. His father also competed in three Winter Olympics, finish seventh in each Olympics (Singles: 1994, 1998; Doubles: 1992).[4]

His younger brother Nico Gleirscher is also a luger competing for Austria.[5] Nico placed third in the sprint event at Winterberg during the 2017-18 Luge World Cup.[6]

Gleirscher did not qualify for the 2026 Olympics.[7]

References

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  1. "Gleirscher David". rodel-austria.at (in German). Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  2. "Luge World Cup Results". newstimes.com.[permanent dead link]
  3. "Winter Olympics: David Gleirscher claims Austria's first luge gold in 50 years after Felix Loch error". bbc.com. BBC. 11 February 2018. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  4. "Rodler David Gleirscher rast sensationell zu Gold". DerStandard.at (in German). Archived from the original on 11 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  5. "Nico Gleirscher". fil-luge.org.
  6. "Germany's Geisenberger picks up 40th singles win at luge World Cup". cbc.ca.
  7. "Wolfgang Kindl's dream of three Olympic medals". FIL. 28 January 2026.
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