Dajana Eitberger bounces back for her sixth singles win

Lake Placid (RWH) Dajana Eitberger has made an impressive return to form. After a mixed season of results so far, the Olympic silver medallist from Germany has achieved the sixth singles race win of her career at the Viessmann World Cup race in Lake Placid in the US state of New York. With just one podium finish under her belt so far this season (bronze medal at the sprint event in Innsbruck-Igls), the 2015 European Champion pushed her team mate, the Olympic Champion Natalie Geisenberger, back into second place on the artificial track at Mount van Hoevenberg.

Third place went to Julia Taubitz (GER), who clocked up her first ever win last week in Calgary (CAN). The US athletes Emily Sweeney, Summer Britcher and Brittney Arndt finished in fourth, fifth and sixth place respectively.

During the first heat, Dajana Eitberger recorded a time of 43.789 seconds, beating the track record set by the US athlete Summer Britcher (43.878 seconds) on 18 March 2018. 

Geisenberger leads the overall standings in the Viessmann World Cup with a total of 470 points, followed by Taubitz (425) and Dajana Eitberger (270).

Quotes

Dajana Eitberger (GER / 2018 Olympic silver medallist, 2015 European Champion, third place in the 2016 Sprint World Championships):

“It may not be obvious to outsiders, but I am so relieved.  I have fought so hard the past few weeks, particularly in terms of the mentality needed to pull myself out of this hole. I felt incredible before the start of the season. But then, when the season got underway, something just didn’t fit. Now, everything has clicked into place.”

Natalie Geisenberger (GER / 2014 and 2018 Olympic Champion, three-time World Champion and six-time overall winner of the Viessmann World Cup):

“Of course, it’s great to have three German girls on the podium on the third Sunday of advent. We were here four weeks ago for a training week and this result has demonstrated that the trip was worth it. Our performance today shows that it wasn’t all for nothing.”

Julia Taubitz (GER / 2016 Junior World Champion)

“After the second heat, I never thought I would finish in third. The two US athletes ahead of me made mistakes, too. Nevertheless, they were still my best two runs of the week.”