Premiere of the women's doubles in the Junior and General Class: Junior and Youth A Doubles World Cup in La Plagne (FRA)

La Plagne @photovallandry

La Plagne (FIL) Due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, no Junior and Youth World Cups in artificial track luge were held in the 2020/2021 season. From 2 to 5 December 2021, the FIL now started the new, international competition season for young athletes in La Plagne, France.
History was made by the women on the double-seater in the general class and in the junior class. Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal of Germany took the first World Cup victory in this new discipline on Thursday, 2 December 2021 in an overall time of 1:38.624 minutes. Second were Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby of the USA (+0.738). Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby from the USA were second (+0.738) and Latvia's Anda Upite and Ozolina Sanija third (+1.134).

The first Junior World Cup in the women's doubles' event was won by Germany's Luisa Romanenko with Pauline Patz in a time of 1:39.251 minutes after two runs, ahead of the young Americans Maya Chan and Reannyn Weiler (+0.925). In the male doubles, the junior team of Eduards Ševics - Mikeļševics/Lukas Krasts from Latvia won the gold medal on the 1992 Albertville Olympic track, with Russia's Lev Romanov and Vladislav Veremeenko (+0.592) second ahead of Germany's 2020 Youth Olympic Games winners Moritz Jäger and Valentin Steudte (+0.878).

La Plagne @photovallandry

In the Youth A female event, Selina Zvilna from Latvia won by 0.023 seconds ahead of Austria's Teresa Kirchmair. Third place went to Dorothea Schwarz from Austria (+0.226). In the Youth A male class, Austria's Fabio Zauser was the fastest among the 25 starters in an overall time of 1:30.317 minutes. Lukas Peccei (Italy/+0.115) and Marcus Mueller from the USA (+0.307) finished on the other podium places in the first race of the season.

In the Youth A doubles, Latvia's Marta Robežniece/Kitija Bogdanova also secured the top spot on the podium in the first World Cup race of the season with a winning time of 1:27.285. Ansel Haugsja and Marcus Mueller of the USA were the fastest doubles in the Youth A male event with a time of 1:38.456.

La Plagne

On Friday, 3 December, the first season's World Cup for juniors in single-seater took place in France. Sofiia Mazur from Russia took the victory in 1:29.934 minutes. The winner of the 2020 Youth Olympic Games Merle Fräbel from Germany (+0.309) came in second ahead of Daria Olesik from Russia (+0.648). In the junior category, the winner was Matthew Greiner from the USA posting the best times of both heats and ended up in 1:30.356 minutes. The young Austrian Noah Kallan (+0.200) and Timon Grancagnolo from Germany (+0.358) came in second. Winner Matt Greiner of Park City said afterwards: "It felt really awesome to take home my first international gold medal. Coming up the outrun and seeing Number 1 is a feeling I never want to forget”.

Results 1st Junior and Youth World Cup in La Plagne (FRA): https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/1-junioren-weltcup
Results 2nd Junior and Youth World Cup in La Plagne (FRA): https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/2-junioren-weltcup-2

Pictures: @photovallandry