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Semen Pavlichenko secures victory amidst snowfall in Innsbruck-Igls

Igls 17 Herren

Innsbruck-Igls (RWH): Not one but three World Champions secured a place on the podium at the opening weekend to the Viessmann World Cup. Amidst the snowfall in Innsbruck-Igls, the athlete who eventually came out on top was the Russian Semen Pavlichenko. On his second run, the titleholder from 2015 climbed from fifth place to the top spot, pushing local hero Wolfgang Kindl into second place. Kindl, the current World Champion, was followed in third place by Felix Loch of Germany, the five-time men's World Champion. Kindl and Loch climbed up from fifth and sixth to make it into the top three.

Dominik Fischnaller of Italy, who won bronze at the International Luge Federation’s (FIL) 47th World Championships, recorded the best time on the first run, before falling back into sixth place. The two Germans Andi Langenhan and Julian von Schleinitz, who were in second and third place at the midway point, had to make do with ninth place (Langenhan) and 22nd (von Schleinitz) in the end.

Quotes

Semen Pavlichenko (RUS / 2015 World Champion, 2017 European Champion):

“This is the outcome of all the hard work I put into training in the run-up to the Olympic winter. I am very happy with this opening race. I can confirm that I am racing with runners that are made in a factory that also produces Kalashnikov weapons.”

Wolfgang Kindl (AUT / 2017 World Champion and 2017 Sprint World Champion):

“Because my team mates didn’t really have much luck with their equipment on their first run, I changed mine at the last minute. It was extremely stressful, but the decision paid off. While I could have secured the win, I am still really happy with my result and performance.”

Felix Loch (GER / 2010 and 2014 Olympic Champion, five-time World Champion):

“Things are slowly moving in the right direction; maybe not on the first run but I think I’m making good progress, even though the second run was just a real risk. I was a bit nervous as the track hadn't been cleared ahead of me, but I made the best of it.”