Oberhof (pps) Although Italy’s 2002 Olympic champion Armin Zoeggeler, who has already prematurely won the men’s 2005/06 Viessmann Luge World Cup, “skips“ the final at Oberhof, Germany, next weekend in favour of taking the last training opportunity for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games on the Olympic track at Cesana Pariol, Italy, the eighths and last Viessmann Luge World Cup event promises a lot of excitement.

Germany’s 2002 Olympic and 2006 European champions, Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch, have just a 10-point advantage over title holders and European bronze medallists, Italy’s Christian Oberstolz and Patrick Gruber in the double-seater. This battle looks like becoming the highlight of the final in the Viessmann Luge World Cup.

In the women’s event, local Oberhof hero Silke Kraushaar, the 1998 Olympic champion who just achieved her third European title last weekend at Winterberg, Germany, still does not dare to speak of her fourth overall Viessmann Luge World Cup victory – despite being 100 points ahead of team-mate Sylke Otto. “I still have to do two runs“, Kraushaar says. The statistics should calm this season’s four-time winner: She won four of the last seven World Cup events on her home-track plus her first two European titles (1998 and 2004). Silke Kraushaar: “I’m always looking forward to Oberhof, because it’s something special when my family and friends are at the track and cheer me on.”

There is a lot at stake in the men’s event, even without Armin Zoeggeler. Russia’s 2004/05 Viessmann Luge World Cup champion Albert Demchenko, who achieved his first ever international title by winning European gold last weekend at Winterberg, and Germany’s three-time Olympic champion Georg Hackl both desperately need World Cup points in order to get into the group of seeds for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino (February 10-26).

The results of the three latest World Cup competitions – Koenigssee, Germany; Igls, Austria, and Oberhof – are taken into consideration for this group of seeds. Since his crash at Koenigssee, Demchenko has just 17 points for his 24 th finish at Igls prior to the last race at Oberhof; Hackl has 70 points from his third place at Koenigssee. He was forced to cancel his participation at Igls due to influenza. Consequently they both need good results at Oberhof in view of the Olympics.

Photo shows Christian Oberstolz/Patrick Gruber (ITA)