Barbara Allmaier, David Noessler and Mueller/Haugsjaa win Nations Cup in Innsbruck

Innsbruck (FIL/06.12.2024) The Olympic Sliding Center in Innsbruck-Igls hosted the second FIL Nations Cup of the 2024/25 season on Friday, December 6, 2024. On the traditional 1976 ice track, lugers from around the world met to qualify for this weekend's EBERSPAECHER World Cup in this qualifying run.

The fastest luge athletes at the Nations Cup in Igls were Barbara Allmeier (AUT), David Noessler (GER) and the double Marcus Mueller/Ansel Haugsjaa (USA). The women's doubles did not have to compete in a qualifying round. All eleven participating doubles were already qualified for the World Cup on Saturday, December 7.

21-year-old Barbara Allmaier from Hall in Tirol repeated her Nations Cup victory from last week in Lillehammer on her home track at the foot of the Patscherkofel. With a time of 47.017 seconds, Allmaier won ahead of Italy's Sandra Robatcher (+0.057) and her teammate Dorothea Schwarz (+0.101). “It's something special when you come off the track at the finish and your family is standing there. The new start here at the Igls ice track is something special. I'm not yet completely satisfied with my performance, but I'm confident that it will get even better and I'm looking forward to the World Cup tomorrow here at home,” said Barbara Allmaier. Runner-up Robatscher was also satisfied: “I hadn't expected the result to be so good today, after the training. The Austrian girls were very fast. So it was all the nicer when I saw at the finish line that I was able to keep up with them. I really like the new starting height and I'm very happy that I can start here again tomorrow.”

In the men's competition, 23-year-old David Noessler from Germany triumphed. With an impressive time of 50.894, the Thuringian distanced Jozef Ninis from Slovakia (0.029 seconds back) and Andriy Mandziy from Ukraine (+0.299 sec.) to the other podium places. Military athlete Noessler was satisfied with his run: “In the last two years I had a hard time here in Innsbruck. I lacked speed. This year's training went really well. Today's run was quite good and now I'm looking forward to Sunday.” Jozef Ninis was also satisfied: “My run today was great. I'm looking forward to the World Cup on Sunday, we'll see what the weather does. In any case, I am prepared for snow,” said the Nations Cup runner-up from Slovakia.

In the doubles competition, Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa were the fastest for the second time in the second Nations Cup of the season. After Lillehammer, the two Americans also impressed with a new track record of 46.694 seconds from the new doubles start in Innsbruck-Igls. The new start record of 9.169 seconds was set by the runners-up, Italy's Ivan Nagler and Fabian Malleier. The South Tyrolean double finished just one thousandth of a second ahead of third-placed Poland's Wojciech Chmielewski and Jakub Kowalewski with a final time of 47.017. “The new start here in Igls is great. We haven't had that many runs to get used to it yet, but it's great and a lot of fun to race here in Austria,” said Marcus Müller, and his teammate Ansel Haugsjaa added: ”Now we have to have two clean runs for the World Cup tomorrow. That's the goal!”

Detailed results and further information about the Nations Cup and the 2nd EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup 2024/2025 in Innsbruck and the Nations Cup are available at the following link:

The FIL Nations Cup serves as a qualification race for the World Cup and is an important part of the international luge calendar. It gives both up-and-coming young talents and established athletes the opportunity to prove themselves among the world's elite.

Schedule 2nd EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup, Innsbruck-Igls (AUT):
Local start time (CET/CET)

Saturday, December 7, 2024

09:30 hrs Women's doubles, 1st run
10:30 hrs Women's doubles, 2nd run

11:40 hrs Men's doubles, 1st run
12:55 hrs Men's doubles, 2nd run

2:05 p.m. Women's single, 1st run
3:25 p.m. Women's single, 2nd run

Sunday, December 8, 2024

10:30 a.m. Men's single, 1st run
11:55 a.m. Men's single, 2nd run

1:30 p.m. Team relay

All information is subject to change!