Austria and Germany equal in Mixed Events
Whistler (FIL/06.02.2025) Team Austria with Thomas Steu/Wolfgang Kindl and Selina Egle/Lara Kipp are the first World Champions in a Mixed Event. At the 53rd World Championships in Whistler, the quartet set the fastest time of 1:22.894 minutes. “This is our first gold medal that we have achieved together,” said frontdriver Steu. Although they only achieved the third-best time in the men's event, Kindl said: "That was the best run of the whole week." Germany 1 with Hannes Orlamünder/Paul Gubitz and Dajana Eitberger/Magdalena Matschina followed just 0.018 seconds behind. Orlamünder/Gubitz clocked the fastest time. “I dreamt about the perfect run last night,” said Orlamünder, “we almost made it.” Germany 2 with Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt and Jessica Degenhardt/Cheyenne Rosenthal came in third (0.097 seconds back). Degenhardt was not at full strength due to a 39-degree fever. In the two EBERSPAECHER Mixed Events presented by SKECHERS in the World Cup, a German team had won in each case. Fourth place went to the US team with Zachary di Gregorio/Sean Hollander and Chevonne Forgan/Sophia Kirkby (0.165) ahead of the Italians with Ivan Nagler/Fabian Malleier and Andrea Vötter/Marion Oberhofer (0.233). The first Latvian team with Martins Bots/Roberts Plume and Marta Robezniece/Kitija Bogdanova (0.302) took sixth place.
In the Mixed Singles, Germany has equalized in the duel with Austria. Max Langenhan and Julia Taubitz set the fastest time in 1:22.354 minutes. Langenhan set the tone for the singles competition. He clocked a time of 39.639 seconds, 0.345 seconds faster than Italy's Dominik Fischnaller, who finished seventh (0.467) with partner Verena Hofer. “That was a 110 percent run - from the first paddle stroke to the touch pad,” said Langenhan. “I was lucky that Max had such a great run,” said Taubitz gratefully.
The US duo of Jonathan Gustafson and Emily Sweeney were more evenly matched. They finished second, 0.095 seconds behind the winners from Germany, ahead of the second Austrian team (0.324). “I knew we could do well here,” said Gustafson, "and we showed that." The Latvian team of Kristers Apajods and Elina Bota (0.352) came in fourth ahead of Austria 1 (Nico Gleirscher/Lisa Schulte/0.419). The fastest team with mixed nations, Alexander Ferlazzo and Natalie Maag (Australia/Switzerland), followed two hundredths of a second behind in sixth place.
Detailed results from the 53rd FIL Luge World Championships in Whistler (CAN) can be found at the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/53rd-fil-world-championships
