BMW Sprint World Cup looks forward to début for the 2017-28 season

Winterberg (RWH): The opening event in Innsbruck-Igls saw a number of big names taking the top spot, a trend that looks set to continue in Winterberg. The second stop in the Viessmann World Cup is scheduled to take place on the artificial ice track at the VELTINS Ice Arena on November 25-26, 2017. To mark the end of the event on Sunday, the BMW Sprint World Cup will celebrate its season premiere at the track in the Hochsauerland region of Germany.

As has already been announced, the International Luge Federation (FIL) has submitted an application to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to have the sprint disciplines added to the Olympic program. If approved, sprint could be added to the events in the Chinese capital of Beijing in 2022. However, this is all a vision for the future. The focus is currently on the upcoming Winter Olympics in PyeongChang (February 9-25, 2018).

The favorites for the Olympics already demonstrated what they are capable of at the season opener. With Semen Pavlichenko (RUS), Wolfgang Kindl (AUT) and Felix Loch (GER) finishing in the top three, it wasn’t just three former FIL World Champions standing on the podium, but also three athletes with serious potential to take gold in Korea.

To demonstrate just how close the contest is in the men’s event, it has been pointed out that first place and tenth place on the Olympic ice track in Igls were separated by a mere 32 hundredths of a second, while just eight tenths of a second separated the athlete in first from the athlete in 25th. “There used to be a time when an athlete by the name of Felix Loch would have a lead of half a second,” explained Julian von Schleinitz. The three-time Junior World Champion experienced for himself the negative side of just how fast a trip down the track can be: After securing third at the midway point, he then fell back to 22nd place on his second run.

Erin Hamlin of the United States had a similar experience in the women’s event. After finishing second in heat one, the current World Championship silver medalist ended up in 21st place, just one day before her 31st birthday. Things went even worse for Tatyana Ivanova of Russia, who botched both of her runs and finished in 24th place. In the doubles event, Ludwig Rieder/Patrick Rastner of Italy came second in a German “sandwich” with the 2017 World Champions Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken and 2014 Olympic Champions Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt.

Winterberg is opening the tournament in the BMW Sprint World Cup, which will then make three further stops (Lake Placid/USA, Lillehammer/NOR, Sigulda/LAT).