After a successful dress rehearsal: Selina Egle and Lara Kipp are Olympic favorites
7th EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup in Oberhof
Oberhof (FIL/24 Jan 2026) The dress rehearsal for the Olympic Games went well for Selina Egle and Lara Kipp at the EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup in Oberhof. The two Austrians completed the last race before the Olympics in 1:24.086 minutes, but not without mistakes. “At the start of the first run, we got into the pod too quickly and ended up skewing the sled a little,” said brakeman Kipp. The conditions were perfect with very hard ice. But also fast. “It was very hard today,” admitted Egle. With their third victory of the season, they were able to further extend their lead in the overall World Cup standings.
A crash by Dajana Eitberger and Magdalena Matschina also played into their hands. The two Germans tipped over and slid several meters on their side. They were able to get back up in the sled and, albeit with a large deficit, cross the finish line on the sled. With a deficit of 26.273 seconds, the German Olympic duo was ranked 14th. It was the first race this season in which they did not finish on the podium. “It was important that we crossed the finish line and took the points,” explained Eitberger. The gap between the second-placed team in the overall World Cup standings and the leaders Egle/Kipp is 132 points. There are still two races to go after the Olympics.
Elisa-Marie Storch and Pauline Patz were delighted. The U23 European champions finished second, 0.155 seconds behind. It was their first podium finish in the World Cup. “We are so happy that it was enough today,” said 21-year-old Storch, “it wasn't a perfect run, but we worked well together.” Patz added: “Our joy was even greater because we succeeded at home in front of our families and many friends.”
After a week of training on the Olympic track in Cortina, Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer celebrated a successful World Cup comeback with third place. With the second-fastest run in the first heat and mistakes in the second, they fell back to third place, 0.164 seconds behind, but were still largely satisfied. “The second run wasn't as good as we would have liked,” said Oberhofer.
The second German duo, Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal, came in fourth, 0.416 seconds behind. “Fourth place is more than justified,” said Degenhardt self-critically, "the first run wasn't good. I did a little too much in turn eight. That had an immediate effect. In the second run, we made sure to attack again. We succeeded in doing so with the best time. That's our goal, that's where we want to be."
Fifth place went to Chevonne Forgan/Sophia Kirky. The US duo was 0.591 seconds behind the winners Egle/Kipp. Marta Robezniece/Kitija Bogdanova (Latvia) were 0.615 seconds behind in sixth place.
Link to the live TV broadcast and results of the 7th EBERSPÄCHER World Cup: fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-weltcup-51
Link to the results of the Mixed Event European Championships on Saturday, January 24, 2026, in Oberhof: fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-mixed-weltcup-presented-by-skechers-2025-2026-id-2581
