Oberhof (FIL) After the World Cup is before the World Cup. This weekend, from February 16 to 18, 2024, the world’s top luge athletes will once again be hunting for points in the Oberhof ice track at the 7th EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup. A total of 90 sleds from 19 nations will compete in the second World Cup in Oberhof. A total of 122 athletes have registered, including 29 women’s and 29 men’s singles as well as 11 women’s and 21 men’s doubles. In addition to the World Cup races, the second Sprint World Cup of the season will be held on Sunday. The qualification process takes place during the World Cup race. The top 15 lugers are also eligible to compete in the sprint on Sunday.
Three Sprint World Cups are on the program this season. At the season opener on the selective Olympic track in Lake Placid, Julia Taubitz and Max Langenhan (both GER) triumphed in the singles as well as Selina Egle and Lara Kipp (AUT) and Latvians Martins Bots and Robert Plume in the doubles. They lead the corresponding Sprint World Cup rankings. None of last year’s winners managed to defend their titles in the sprint competitions at the 52nd FIL Luge World Championships in Altenberg (GER). However, this was largely due to retirements and external conditions, as the ice had suffered greatly in plus seven degrees and sometimes heavy rain. While Julia Taubitz (GER) took the second sprint title of her career in the women’s singles, Austria’s David Gleirscher triumphed in the men’s event. Latvian Martins Bots, who together with his partner Roberts Plume were the fastest men’s doubles, spoke of luck with the starting number. In the women’s doubles, the Italians Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer came out on top.
Taubitz, Langenhan, Degenhardt/Rosenthal and Steu/Kindl lead the overall World Cup standings.
After seven of twelve World Cup races, a look at the overall standings shows that the action remains exciting. Julia Taubitz is the only woman to have stood on the podium at all World Cups and leads with 624 points ahead of Madeleine Egle (AUT, 542 points) and team-mate Anna Berreiter (417 points). In the men’s event, Max Langenhan is aiming for his first victory in the overall World Cup. The 24-year-old from Thuringia is the only one to have finished on the podium in all races, five of
them at the top. He is clearly in the lead with 655 points ahead of Jonas Müller (AUT, 479 points) and Kristers Aparjods (LAT, 470 points). It remains particularly exciting in the doubles: In the men’s doubles, the Austrians Thomas Steu/Wolfgang Kindl
extend their lead in the overall World Cup after their victory in Oberhof with 586 points, followed by Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (GER, 475 p.) and Martins Bots/Roberts Plume (LAT, 470 p.). In the women’s doubles, Germany’s Jessica Degenhardt/Cheyenne Rosenthal took the lead again after their fourth win of the season and are just ahead of Andrea Vötter/Marion Oberhofer (ITA, 555 points) and Selina Egle/Lara Kipp (AUT, 484 points) on 565 points.
Capricious weather in the ice track
For the second week in a row, the international luge elite had to struggle with changing weather conditions at last weekend’s World Cup. Despite all the efforts of the track workers, it became clear in the men’s race on Sunday that it was going to be a bib poker race in high temperatures and that those starting later would be at a considerable disadvantage. As a result, some of the top athletes even deliberately slowed down their first run to secure an earlier starting place for the second run. This tactic did not always work and caused a lot of discussion off the ice channel.
„When the weather is like today, it’s never really fair. In terms of the regulations, we actually had the opportunity to make changes. If we had changed it in the first run of the men’s race so that the best athletes started at the beginning, it would have meant that they would have started at the very end in the second run. We saw scenes that weren’t so nice because some athletes slowed down. If they had raced right at the start, it would have been even worse because they would still have raced at the end in the second run,“ FIL Sports Director Matthias Böhmer explained in an TV interview with German ARD. „In principle, I’m against juggling with the rules, because with an offside rule in soccer, you don’t decide one way this week and another the next. We have various authorities in the international federation, and dealing with such weather conditions is definitely an issue that we will discuss in the relevant commissions after the season.“
Quotes:
Max Langenhan (GER): „I really didn’t think I’d make it onto the podium in the second run in Oberhof. We also slowed down a bit in the first run and it still wasn’t enough. We were victims of the weather on our home track today, but that’s just the way it is. I still think it’s great that Kristers won. I think he really, really deserved it. Of course, it’s not fair to slow yourself down, even if you could always claim that the sled broke out or the ice was slippery. I think we need to think about changing the starting order in the future so that all the top athletes are together. It’s a bit of a shame for the sport, but in the end it’s always the same people at the top. It’s not as if one of the smaller nations won here today. As far as the overall World Cup is concerned, nothing is certain. You can get injured in training or have a bad race, but I have a small buffer. There are still plenty of races to come, a lot can happen, and the lead isn’t that big.“ (Source: ARD)
Felix Loch (GER): „It was more poker than luge today. I don’t often criticize, but today they really should have thought about letting the seeded athletes go first in the first run. That’s the general demand from us top athletes. I think it’s a bit ridiculous if
you have to slow down in the first run in order to have a good starting number in the second run. We wanted to get to the bottom as quickly as possible here and not to place after the first run. It’s obviously annoying, also for the spectators, but it’s great that Max still came in at the front. I’m definitely happy with seventh place under the circumstances. The FIL should think about how to improve this. That would be
relatively easy, and the regulations would even allow the seeded riders to ride away at the front in really, really bad weather conditions. That could have been done today. We saw it last week in Altenberg, next week it looks like that again – so I hope they learn something and react to it. As far as Max is concerned, I assume that he will continue to ride at the front in the future. We have another race here next week and the sprint, so there are another 200 points up for grabs. Max will score a lot of points there and then he should bring it home in Sigulda. After all, he showed last year that he’s good on the track. I would be really happy if he won the overall World Cup this year, he would have more than earned it after this season.“ (Source: ARD)
Kristers Aparjods (LAT): „That’s fine with me. I’m an outdoor athlete and the conditions change. You can’t change that. There are such and such races. I will cope with the rules. I don’t make the rules. Last Sunday at the World Cup in Oberhof, I didn’t expect to be so fast in the second run. The win is nice and I’m very happy. I didn’t slow down either. And things will be different again another time. That’s the sport.“
David Gleirscher (AUT): „I’m totally happy with the result. Finishing on the podium in a race like this also requires a bit of luck. The conditions were very questionable, I think it’s about time the international federation came up with some solutions for the future, so that maybe the first run could be organized a little differently. I was a bit too slow in the relay, we tried a few things with the equipment, but it didn’t work out so well. Nevertheless, we are very happy with third place.“
Jessica Degenhardt (GER): „These are really tears of joy today, pure relief. The last three weeks in Altenberg weren’t easy for us and we tried to fight our way back here. It’s a huge relief that it turned out like this. We doubted ourselves in Altenberg with that stupid turn nine. Today everything went great again in the second run and we also managed to find ourselves a bit.“
Norbert Loch, Head Coach Germany: „Of course it’s great for us to be able to race in front of a crowd like this here in Oberhof. That’s why it’s even more important that
we have our German World Cups. It’s also always an event here for the international federation and for all the athletes, and that simply makes luge more fun. Apart from that, the weather meant that a certain amount of tactics was required, especially in the men’s event. It was clearly a start-number-race in this large field. Well, in the end
there are always those at the front who are also at the front in the World Cup. We got off lucky with Max’s 2nd place. With a little more luck, we could have done better. Speaking of luck: we certainly had it in the team relay. The Latvians made a mistake in the straight away, which probably tipped the scales. It was a great performance by our team, who showed that they can do it. “
Christian Eigentler, Head Coach Austria: „We set ourselves the goal of podium places in all disciplines this weekend and achieved this goal again, which is not a matter of course given the circumstances and makes us absolutely happy. We hadn’t originally planned to do this, but due to the progress of the men’s race we were almost forced to take a tactical approach. A circumstance that neither our athletes nor the coaching team approved of. On the other hand, we had no other choice if we wanted to keep up with the music. We must not forget that we are practicing an outdoor sport. If something really needs to change in the regulations, we all need to think about solutions. There is a lot of discussion, which is positive as a general principle, but concrete ideas are needed. We need to work on this together.“
Schedule & TV coverage
7. EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup, Oberhof 2 (GER)
Local start time (=CET/MEZ)
Friday, February 16, 2024
09:00 Uhr Nations Cup
14:30 Uhr Training seeded group
Saturday, 17. February 2024
09:15 Men’s Doubles, 1st run
10:03 Women’s Doubles, 1st run
11:00 Men’s Doubles, 2nd run
11:51 Women’s Doubles, 2nd run
13:15 Men’s Singles, 1st run
14:48 Men’s Singles, 2nd run
Sunday, February 18, 2024
09:30 Women’s Singles, 1st run
10:55 Women’s Singles, 2nd run
12:30 Sprint Men’s Singles
13:20 Sprint Men’s Doubles
13:50 Sprint Women’s Doubles
14:35 Sprint Women’s Singles
Subject to change without notice!
Live TV-Broadcast: fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/eberspaecher-world-cup-29
