3rd Junior World Cup in Innsbruck

Innsbruck (FIL) At the first two FIL Junior World Cups in La Plagne, France, the women's doubles made history. Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal from Germany were the first World Cup winners in this new discipline in the General Class. After Cheyenne Rosenthal could not participate in the World Cup in Innsbruck, because she started in Women Singles in the Nations Cup in Altenberg, Jessica Degenhardt also only competed in the Singles at the 3rd Junior World Cup and took the victory in 1:20.812 minutes ahead of her team-mate, the Youth Olympic Champion Merle Fräbel (+0.103). Sofiia Mazur (+0.123) finished third. The only 16-year-old Russian won the first two Junior World Cups on the Olympic track in Albertville in 1992.

In the male juniors, also on Saturday, 11 December 2021, Germany's Timon Grancagnolo won in 1:42.190 minutes ahead of his team-mate Pascal Kunze (+0.252) and local hero Florian Tanzer from Austria (+0.291). The first two Junior World Cups in France were both won by Matthew Greiner from the USA. However, in training for the Junior World Cup on the Olympic track in Igls, the 18-year-old fell so badly that he had to have surgery on his arm. Greiner wants to return to the Junior World Cup after the Christmas break and be fit again by the Junior World Championships on 29 January 2022 in Winterberg.

The Junior World Cup of the male doubles in Innsbruck was won by the Russian athletes Lev Romanov and Vladislav Veremeenko, just like the second junior World Cup in this discipline a week earlier. The winning time of the two 17-year-olds was 1:20.824 minutes. Barely 16 hundredths of a second behind them were the opening winners of the first World Cup in La Plagne, Latvia's Eduards Sevics-Mikelsevics / Lukass Krasts ahead of the German duo Moritz Jäger / Valentin Steudte (+0.533).

In junior women's doubles, Luisa Romanenko and Pauline Patz from Germany were the fastest in 1:27.540 minutes. The two juniors also won the senior women's doubles category. The US-Americans Maya Chan and Reannyn Weiler (+0.340) and the young Latvians Viktorija Ziedina and Selina Zwilna (+0.544) followed on the podium. In the general class (age group 2000 and older), the Latvian duo Anda Upite / Sanija Ozolina (+0.027) and Maya Chan / Reannyn Weiler (+0.340) finished behind the winners Romaneko/Patz.

Finally, a Team World Cup for juniors took place on Saturday, 11 December in Igls. The team of Germany (Jessica Degenhardt, Timon Grancagnolo and Moritz Jäger/Valentin Steudte) convinced with the fastest overall time ahead of the Russian team with Sofiia Mazur and Eduard Aleksandrov in Singles and Lev Romanov and Vladislav Veremeenko on the double-sled as well as the team from Latvia (Zane Kaluma, Kaspars Rinks and Eduards Sevics-Mikelsevics / Lukass Krasts).

All results from the 3rd World Cup stop of the juniors and also youth A can be found under the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/3-junioren-weltcup-2  

Next weekend the 4th Junior World Cup will take place in Oberhof (GER).

photos: Katja Haupt