The first event with 24 lugers was the men's singles. Each athlete completed four runs over two days, 8 and 9 February. The German athlete, Georg Hackl, who had won gold at the 1992 Winter Olympics and 1994 Winter Olympics, had entered the competition winless in the 1997–1998 season. Hackl raced in a newly designed luge and aerodynamic shoes. Several team protested but these protests were rejected. Hackl dominated all four races, and finished with a time of 3:18.436, half a second ahead of the Italian Armin Zöggeler. Zöggeler finished .154 seconds ahead of Jens Müller of Germany, who had won gold at the 1988 Winter Olympics when he competed for East Germany.