PYEONGCHANG, South Korea_It was all set up for a coronation as Germany's Felix Loch was in the lead heading into the final run of the luge late Sunday night.
But Loch clipped the wall midway down the track and his goal of a third consecutive gold medal ended in the arms of his father and coach who tried to console him after he crossed the line with the fifth best time of the night.
Loch's mistake opened the door for David Gleischer of Austria, who started the final run in third place. Gleischer, who had one of the fastest times of the night in his first run, beat American Chris Mazdzer by two hundredths of a second to capture Austria's first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Games.
With a second-place finish, Mazdzer won a silver medal, the first American to capture a luge medal in Olympic history.
Mazdzer, who had finished 13th in both the Sochi and Vancouver Games, gave the U.S. their second medal of the day after Red Gerard won gold in men's slopestyle early Sunday.
