Igls (pps) The German team and Italy’s Olympic champion Armin Zoeggeler have the opportunity to achieve the overall victory in the Viessmann Luge World Cup prematurely at the last but one event on the 1976 Olympic track at Innsbruck-Igls, Austria next weekend (January 23-25).

The German team only needs eighth place and 42 points in the fourth race for the team event on Friday (17:00-18:30 hrs CET) to win the overall World Cup after their three previous wins. Germany, the European team champions, have 300 points followed by Italy (240), Austria (210), Canada (175) and the USA (166).

Armin Zoeggeler, who won the overall Viessmann Luge World Cup in 1998, 2000 and 2001, has an advantage of 100 points against Germany’s European silver medallist David Moeller (401 points) after his third position last weekend at Winterberg, Germany. Even if 22-year-old Moeller were to win the last two men’s events at Igls and Koenigssee, Germany (January 30-February 1) thus getting altogether 601 points, Zoeggeler would need only a fifth place (55 points) and a sixth position (50) to become World Cup champion for the fourth time.

The four-time World champion, however, lowers the expectations after his crash in the Krombacher Challenge Cup at Winterberg. “The Igls track does not suit me, I simply want to get down without any mishap. A crash can happen any time. I don’t think I can ascertain the overall World Cup victory at Igls”, Zoeggeler said. The 2004 European champion considers Germany’s Georg Hackl the hot favourite on the 1976 Olympic track. The three-time Olympic champion achieved his first win this winter at Winterberg. “You may never write Hackl off. It is well known and does not mean anything if he is not good at the start of the season. His favourite tracks are coming up now.”

Germany’s Sylke Otto, who is leading the women’s event with 555 points followed by team-mate and European champion Silke Kraushaar (512) is also considered a specialist on the Igls track. Kraushaar, the 1998 Olympic champion, however, is suffering from a torn muscle since the European Championships at the beginning of January and does not want to risk anything at Igls: “The World Championships at Nagano are more important to me.”

The doubles competition provides the greatest suspense. There are just 16 points between first place, held by Germany’s Andre Florschuetz-Torsten Wustlich (444 points) since their win at Winterberg, and third position, held by their team-mates Patric Leitner-Alexander Resch (428). Ranked between the German doubles are Italy’s Christian Oberstolz-Patrick Gruber (430). The two Austrian doubles, World champions Andreas Linger-Wolfgang Linger and the World runners-up, Tobias Schiegl-Markus Schiegl, must be reckoned with on their hometrack. Linger-Linger are currently in fourth position overall with 383 points, followed by Italy’s Gerhard Plankensteiner-Oswald Haselrieder (346) and Schiegl-Schiegl (304).