Singles, Men
| Date | 4 – 7 February 1972 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Mount Teine Luge Course, Mount Teine | |
| Participants | 45 from 13 countries | |
| Format | Four runs, total time determined placement. | |
| Details | Curves: 14 Length: 1023 m Start Altitude: 443 m Vertical Drop: 101 m | |
East Germany’s dominance in this event was unprecedented, with their four lugers taking places 1 through 4. While the Germans had been favourites, a complete sweep was unexpected, especially considering that the East Germans had not won a World or Olympic title in the event since 1967. The winner was Wolfgang Scheidel, who had been runner-up at the European Championships in 1971 and 1972. He had won his only international title prior to Sapporo in 1965, winning the doubles at the World Championships. Scheidel built up a decent lead on run 1 and 2, with two wins. He then kept his lead without much trouble. Behind him, his compatriots Harald Ehrig (European Champion in 1970), and Wolfram Fiedler (European Champion in 1972) divided the other medals. Outside the podium, the fourth East German and two West Germans confirmed Germany’s dominance of the sport.
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | Run #1 | Run #2 | Run #3 | Run #4 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wolfgang Scheidel |  GDR | 3:27.58 | 52.17 (1) | 52.06 (1) | 51.58 (2) | 51.77 (3) | Gold | ||
| 2 | Harald Ehrig | GDR | 3:28.39 | 52.60 (2) | 52.32 (2) | 51.74 (4) | 51.73 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | Wolfram Fiedler | GDR | 3:28.73 | 53.04 (6) | 52.55 (3) | 51.61 (3) | 51.53 (1) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Klaus-Michael Bonsack | GDR | 3:29.16 | 52.98 (3) | 52.72 (4) | 51.54 (1) | 51.92 (5) | |||
| 5 | Leonhard Nagenrauft |  FRG | 3:29.67 | 53.00 (4) | 52.79 (7) | 51.97 (6) | 51.91 (4) | |||
| 6 | Josef Fendt | FRG | 3:30.03 | 53.03 (5) | 52.73 (5) | 52.25 (9) | 52.02 (7) | |||
| 7 | Manfred Schmid |  AUT | 3:30.05 | 53.06 (7) | 52.80 (8) | 52.19 (7) | 52.00 (6) | |||
| 8 | Paul Hildgartner |  ITA | 3:30.55 | 53.66 (12) | 52.76 (6) | 51.94 (5) | 52.19 (=9) | |||
| 9 | Karl Brunner | ITA | 3:30.87 | 53.14 (9) | 53.26 (11) | 52.28 (10) | 52.19 (=9) | |||
| 10 | Josef Feistmantl | AUT | 3:31.32 | 53.18 (10) | 53.11 (9) | 52.52 (13) | 52.51 (11) | |||
| 11 | Emilio Lechner | ITA | 3:31.41 | 53.59 (11) | 53.49 (13) | 52.20 (8) | 52.13 (8) | |||
| 12 | Janusz Grzemowski |  POL | 3:31.44 | 53.07 (8) | 53.12 (10) | 52.66 (=15) | 52.59 (12) | |||
| 13 | Lucjan Kudzia | POL | 3:32.83 | 54.14 (19) | 53.58 (15) | 52.36 (11) | 52.75 (13) | |||
| 14 | Christian Strøm |  NOR | 3:33.01 | 53.79 (13) | 53.68 (16) | 52.46 (12) | 53.08 (17) | |||
| 15 | Wolfgang Winkler | FRG | 3:33.08 | 54.07 (14) | 53.53 (14) | 52.66 (=15) | 52.82 (15) | |||
| 16 | Rudolf Schmid | AUT | 3:33.76 | 54.33 (20) | 53.93 (18) | 52.74 (17) | 52.76 (14) | |||
| 17 | Hans Wimmer | FRG | 3:33.80 | 54.09 (=15) | 53.82 (17) | 52.62 (14) | 53.27 (21) | |||
| 18 | Masako Eguchi |  JPN | 3:33.81 | 54.09 (=15) | 53.37 (12) | 52.78 (18) | 53.57 (25) | |||
| 19 | Ryszard Gawior | POL | 3:34.94 | 54.72 (24) | 54.09 (20) | 53.26 (21) | 52.87 (16) | |||
| 20 | Kazuaki Ichikawa | JPN | 3:34.99 | 54.09 (=15) | 54.21 (22) | 53.29 (22) | 53.40 (22) | |||
| 21 | Leo Atzwanger | ITA | 3:35.33 | 54.41 (21) | 54.32 (23) | 53.38 (23) | 53.22 (20) | |||
| 22 | Stephen Sinding | NOR | 3:35.41 | 54.98 (27) | 54.05 (19) | 53.19 (20) | 53.19 (19) | |||
| 23 | Franz Schachner | AUT | 3:35.62 | 54.67 (23) | 54.38 (24) | 53.40 (24) | 53.17 (18) | |||
| 24 | Masatoshi Kobayashi | JPN | 3:36.39 | 55.30 (32) | 54.43 (25) | 53.00 (19) | 53.66 (27) | |||
| 25 | Larry Arbuthnot |  CAN | 3:36.57 | 54.11 (18) | 54.17 (21) | 54.17 (31) | 54.12 (33) | |||
| 26 | Satoru Arai | JPN | 3:37.31 | 54.76 (26) | 55.07 (30) | 53.75 (25) | 53.73 (29) | |||
| 27 | Mirosław Więckowski | POL | 3:37.61 | 54.43 (22) | 54.82 (27) | 54.61 (34) | 53.75 (30) | |||
| 28 | Jim Murray |  USA | 3:37.93 | 55.31 (33) | 55.22 (34) | 53.94 (27) | 53.46 (23) | |||
| 29 | Yury Yegorov |  URS | 3:38.00 | 55.08 (28) | 54.58 (26) | 54.64 (35) | 53.70 (28) | |||
| 30 | Bjørn Dyrdahl | NOR | 3:38.05 | 54.73 (25) | 55.13 (31) | 54.67 (36) | 53.52 (24) | |||
| 31 | Terry O'Brien | USA | 3:38.24 | 55.41 (34) | 55.17 (32) | 54.02 (28) | 53.64 (26) | |||
| 32 | Ralph Havens | USA | 3:38.32 | 55.17 (30) | 54.84 (28) | 54.31 (32) | 54.00 (32) | |||
| 33 | Sergey Osipov | URS | 3:38.99 | 55.48 (35) | 55.27 (36) | 54.06 (29) | 54.18 (34) | |||
| 34 | Jonnie Woodall |  GBR | 3:40.15 | 55.11 (29) | 55.21 (33) | 54.78 (38) | 55.05 (38) | |||
| 35 | David McComb | CAN | 3:40.43 | 55.20 (31) | 56.14 (41) | 54.52 (33) | 54.57 (35) | |||
| 36 | Pierre Larchier |  FRA | 3:41.76 | 55.86 (37) | 56.28 (42) | 54.68 (37) | 54.94 (37) | |||
| 37 | Viktor Ilyin | URS | 3:42.08 | 56.12 (39) | 55.50 (37) | 55.21 (41) | 55.25 (39) | |||
| 38 | Doug Hansen | CAN | 3:42.22 | 55.73 (36) | 55.94 (39) | 55.20 (40) | 55.35 (40) | |||
| 39 | Werner Sele |  LIE | 3:42.38 | 56.39 (40) | 56.04 (40) | 55.03 (39) | 54.92 (36) | |||
| 40 | Jeremy Palmer-Tomkinson | GBR | 3:43.61 | 57.23 (41) | 55.59 (38) | 55.36 (42) | 55.43 (41) | |||
| 41 | Yury Svetikov | URS | 3:43.69 | 1:00.82 (44) | 55.01 (29) | 54.08 (30) | 53.78 (31) | |||
| 42 | Dick Liversedge | GBR | 3:46.49 | 57.38 (42) | 57.08 (43) | 55.71 (43) | 56.32 (42) | |||
| 43 | Rupert Deen | GBR | 3:55.54 | 59.21 (43) | 59.65 (44) | 58.10 (44) | 58.58 (43) | |||
| 44 | Bob Rock, Jr. | USA | 3:59.04 | 55.98 (38) | 55.25 (35) | 53.85 (26) | 1:13.96 (44) | |||
| Paul Nielsen | CAN | – | – ( | – | – | – |