Anna Berreiter wins World Championship gold in German triple victory
Oberhof (FIL, 28 Jan 2023) After Olympic silver Anna Berreiter secured her first World Championship title and was celebrated by almost 6000 spectators in the LOTTO Thüringen Eisarena. In front of the eyes of the top-class delegation of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) , with President Dr Thomas Bach, Sports Director Kit McConnell and associate director winter sports Irina Gladkikh, the German women celebrated a triple success. With an overall time of 1:23.991, Berreiter beat defending champion Julia Taubitz (+0.058 sec.) and sprint World Champion Dajana Eitberger (+0.116 sec.).
Anna Berreiter had already shown two years ago that the rebuilt World Championship track suits her when the 23-year-old from Bischofswiesen celebrated the first World Cup victory of her career here. At the end of 2022, she also won her first German championship here. It was the expected close WCH race and a German-Austrian showdown. Still in a medal position after run one, Austria's Madeleine Egle (+0.177 sec.) missed the podium with fourth place as did Merle Fraebel (GER, only 19 years old, +0.212 sec.) in fifth place. Lisa Schulte (AUT) finished sixth, closely followed by Italy's Andrea Vötter, who achieved a top ranking in singles with seventh place less than two hours after winning World Championship bronze in women's doubles.
For 32-year-old WCH bronze medalist Dajana Eitberger it was the last individual WCH race of her career. She had already announced before the World Championships that she will switch to women's doubles on her way to the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina (ITA). Already in 2021, three German lugers had occupied the complete World Cup podium. In addition to Taubitz and Eitberger, Olympic champion Natalie Geisenberger had finished on silver at that time. The luger from Miesbach was not at the start because she became a mother for the second time a week ago.
In the U23 World Championship, ranking Merle Fraebel could be happy about gold, silver went to the two Austrians Lisa Schulte and Hannah Prock.
Quotes:
Anna Berreiter: “World champion sounds very good to me. I accept the title with thanks. It was an awesome day. I felt the race again today. I don't know what it is, but something comes up for me in the race and then it just flows. I just wanted to get two good runs down. I knew the sled was going well. Today there was also the start, which is generally very good for me. That's why I was already very optimistic.“
Julia Taubitz: “Everyone knows that Oberhof is not my favorite track, but the second run today felt so incredibly good. I personally put a lot of pressure on myself because I really wanted a medal. That I was able to attack again like that made me very happy.”
Dajana Eitberger: “I am very emotionally upset. After yesterday, I don't need to be ashamed of third place one bit. To deliver such a race with such a crowd, with all the fans who have accompanied me over the past years - I think it is a satisfaction for myself and everything I have achieved so far. That I can now take home two medals at the World Championships is something incredibly great.”
Merle Fräbel: “I feel mega good. Yesterday I was very unhappy with my run, but you just have to see that making the mistakes is not enough. Today it was two not so good runs. I can do better than that. But I am still very satisfied. Tonight I'm going to dinner with my huge fan club and I'm looking forward to the award ceremony.”
Madeleine Egle: “I definitely have the potential. I just have to bring it to the track and I didn't succeed today. That's bitter, but I'm looking ahead now and keep working hard on myself.”
The WCH and U23 WCH-results in the women's singles are available at the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/fil-weltmeisterschaften-16
