Oberhof (FIL) After three weeks in Altenberg, Saxony, the international luge teams have moved on to Thuringia. The 6th EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup will be held in the LOTTO Thüringen EISARENA from February 9 to 11, 2024. A total of 98 sleds from 18 nations have registered for the World Cup, with 32 women’s and 33 men’s singles and 13 women’s and 20 men’s doubles.
In addition to the World Cup races, the fifth of six team relays as part of the EBERSPÄCHER Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW is scheduled for Sunday.
It will be a reunion for the Thuringian luge fans with their local World Championship heroes, first and foremost Max Langenhan, World Champion in the singles and with the team as well as Vice World Champion in the sprint, and Julia Taubitz, Sprint and Team World Champion as well as Vice World Champion in Altenberg. Both put in an
incredible race to catch up in the Altenberg ice track at the last World Cup race: In difficult weather and resulting ice conditions, both raced from 22nd and 21st place respectively in the first run to victory.
The 24-year-old Max Langenhan grew up in Friedrichroda, 30km from Oberhof, and has won five of the six World Cup races so far, adding a total of 13 World Cup victories to his account. He leads the overall World Cup with 570 points ahead of the two Austrians Jonas Müller (419 points) and Vice World Champion Nico Gleirscher (372 points).
Julia Taubitz was born in Saxony and started her luge career in Altenberg but has lived and trained in Oberhof for many years. Like her team-mate Max, she has made it onto the podium at all six World Cups so far this season, three of them at the top. This weekend, she could clinch the 25th World Cup victory of her career. With 555 points, she leads the overall World Cup standings ahead of World Championship bronze medallist Madeleine Egle (457 points) and team-mate Anna Berreiter (357 points).
Things remain really exciting in the men’s and women’s doubles. The Sprint World Champions Andrea Vötter/Marion Oberhofer from Italy have moved to the top of the overall standings after their victory in Altenberg and are currently on 470 points, just ahead of the two German doubles Jessica Degenhardt/Cheyenne Rosenthal (465
points) and Dajana Eitberger/Saskia Schirmer (416 points). ) In the men’s doubles, the Vice World Champions Thomas Steu/Wolfgang Kindl (AUT) have one win and four second places to reach 486 points, putting them ahead of the Sprint World
Champions Martins Bots/Roberts Plume (LAT, 410 p.) and the Team World Champions and World Championship bronze medalists Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (GER, 409 p.).
An overview of the overall World Cup standings and the individual disciplines can be found here: fil-luge.org/en/overall-scores?event_season_id=31
Press conference on Tuesday, February 6, 2024
In the run-up to the 6th EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup in Oberhof, the Thuringian Luge and Bobsleigh Federation invites you to a press conference, which will take place on Tuesday, February 6, 2024, at 1:30 pm in the Haus des Gastes (Crawinkler Straße 2, in 98559 Oberhof). Besides reigning World Champion Max Langenhan, World Championship fifth-placed Merle Fräbel, Andi Langenhan, national base coach, as well as technical coach and Oberhof head mechanic Robert Eschrich will take part. In addition to an assessment of the sporting results over the past few weeks and a look ahead to the home race in Oberhof, the press conference will also focus on the influence of the equipment and technical performance on the athletes’ success.
A live stream is planned for all media representatives who cannot be there in person. Here comes the link: Livestream: Pressekonferenz vor dem Rodel-Weltcup in Oberhof | MDR.DE
Quotes:
Emanuel Rieder (ITA): „We were delighted with third place in Altenberg. It was revenge for the messed-up World Championships and a conciliatory end to the three weeks in Altenberg for us. After that we went home for a short time before we start again in Oberhof. We really like the track, it’s one of our favorite tracks and we really enjoy racing there. “
Andrea Vötter (ITA): „ It’s unbelievable. We’ve barely been in Altenberg for three weeks when we finally understand the track and can luge fast here. We’re really
happy about our first World Cup win this season and that we’re now heading to a new track, to Oberhof.”
Marion Oberhofer (ITA): „We went home for two days after the World Cup in Altenberg, and we’ll now attack again in Oberhof with renewed energy. We are looking forward to the last four World Cups. It’s great to have now also taken the lead in the overall World Cup. Freshly recovered and highly motivated, we will now tackle the World Cups in Oberhof and Sigulda and hope to maintain our lead. “
Julia Taubitz (GER): „I didn’t expect to go from 22nd to first place. After the first run, the plan was to be in a good midfield position. It was a weather race today – of course a win is nice, but you’re not as happy about it as if it had been perfect weather. I’m really looking forward to the next two World Cups in Oberhof because I can stay in my own apartment. That’s something different from hotel life. I’m looking forward to the track and hope for good weather and lots of spectators. “
Dajana Eitberger (GER): „We worked really well on turn 9 in the third week in Altenberg and also saw in the men’s doubles’ race that we had to keep the focus on this passage. We did a good job of that. We can’t explain why we didn’t make it to the front in the second run. We had a very good race and were happy about it. The next World Cups in Oberhof and Sigulda are two tracks where we still face some challenges. We narrowly missed our goal in Oberhof during the training week, which was to get two safe runs down at the start of the race. We’ll have to work on the starting height again in the training runs, but we’re taking the momentum from Altenberg with us and are very confident about the races. The same applies to Sigulda, where we haven’t had such an easy time so far. However, with the experience we have already gained, I can well imagine that we will also find our way around the track there.“
Max Langenhan (GER): „I was just lucky at the last World Cup race in Altenberg. Normally such mistakes deserve a defeat. The fact that the track deteriorates so much in this weather is something you wouldn’t wish on any other athlete – I feel sorry for them too. It’s an outdoor sport after all, as we saw last week at the World Sprint Championships, where it was similar. I was just lucky with the start number in the second run. “
Juri Gatt (AUT): „Last weekend was exciting with the weather, especially because the track slowed down a lot. But the World Championship week just gave us so much confidence that we could go into the race relaxed because we knew we had what it
takes. It’s cool when you can prove that again and we were able to repeat our World Championship success in the World Cup. “
Christian Eigentler, Head Coach Austria: „It was an incredibly difficult weekend in Altenberg, where we pretty much made the best of the situation. Weather is always an issue in outdoor sports, but if the track degrades so quickly, it would be in everyone’s interest to work out solutions for the future. I can’t blame my team at all, we worked overtime in the sledging room and performed well, but in some cases we simply didn’t stand a chance. Even if we had remained completely faultless in the final relay, we wouldn’t have won today. That’s why we’re all the happier with the double victory in the doubles and the two podium places in the singles. “
Schedule & TV coverage
6. EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup, Oberhof (GER)
Local start time (CET/MEZ)
Friday, February 09, 2024
09:00 Nations Cup
14:30 Training seeded group.
Saturday, February 10, 2024
09:30 Men’s Doubles, 1st run
10:18 Women’s Doubles, 1st run
11:15 Men’s Doubles, 2nd run
12:07 Women’s Doubles, 2nd run
13:05 Women’s Singles, 1st run
14:30 Women’s Singles, 2nd run
Sunday, February 11, 2024
10:00 Men’s Singles, 1st run
11:30 Men’s Singles, 2nd run
13:30 Team Relay
Subject to change without notice!
