The municipality of Mariazell (AUT) in northern Styria returns to the FIL Luge World Cup on natural track this weekend. After the break for the European Championships in Laas/Lasa (ITA), the exciting fight for the lead in the overall World Cup continues.

The finish area in Mariazell/St. Sebastian (AUT)

Mariazell hosted the FIL Luge World Cup on natural track back in January 2018, in January 2020 the World Cup planned there had to be spontaneously relocated to Winterleiten (AUT) due to the huge amounts of fresh snow.

Four years ago, Thomas Kammerlander (AUT) was successful on the 974 meter long "Sigmundsberg" natural luge track. The current leader in the overall World Cup prevailed in a thrilling finish just ahead of Alex Gruber (ITA) and his teammate Michael Scheikl (AUT). Patrick Pigneter (ITA) achieved the best time in the second run, improving from seventh to fourth place.
In the women's singles, Italy celebrated a double victory with Evelin Lanthaler and Greta Pinggera, ahead of local hero Michelle Diepold. The Styrian is currently out of action due to an ankle injury.

In the doubles, victory went to Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA), ahead of Aleksandr Egorov/Petr Popov (RUS) and Rupert Brüggler/Tobias Angerer (AUT), who have meanwhile retired. The reigning European champions Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev finished fourth. In Mariazell Pigneter/Clara are reaching for their 65th victory in World Cup.

After four of seven races, Thomas Kammerlander (AUT) is leading in the overall World Cup with 355 points, ahead of Alex Gruber (ITA/345) and Michael Scheikl (AUT/280). In the women's category, Evelin Lanthaler is in the lead with a maximum of 400 points, ahead of Lisa Walch (GER) and Greta Pinggera (ITA) with 295 points each. Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) are in the lead in the doubles with 400 points, followed by Fabian Achenrainer/Simon Achenrainer (AUT/285) and Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev (RUS/225).

The races in Mariazell will be broadcast live on the homepage of the international luge association FIL at https://www.fil-luge.org/en/live-streaming-natural

The program (CET), 5th FIL World Cup Mariazell, February 18th-20th 2022

Friday, 02/18/2022
9.30 a.m.: Nations training singles, followed by nations training doubles

Saturday, 02/19/2022
10.00 a.m.: 1st run women’s singles
11.00 a.m.: 1st run doubles
11.45 a.m.: Final run women’s singles, followed by flower ceremony
12.45 p.m.: Final run doubles, followed by a flower ceremony
followed by the award ceremony for women’s singles and doubles

Sunday, February 20th, 2022
9.30 a.m.: 1st run men’s singles
11.00 a.m.: Final run men’s singles, followed by flower ceremony
1:00 p.m.: Team competition, followed by a flower ceremony
followed by the award ceremony for men's singles and the team competition