Egle, Müller, Egle/Kipp and Steu/Kindl Austrian Champions

Innsbruck (FIL-ÖRV/11 Nov 2023) Austria's Olympic luge athletes started the 2023/2024 season with the Austrian National Championships on Saturday November 11.

World Champion Jonas Müller won the men’s singles in a thrilling race with a total time of 1:40.388 minutes after two runs ahead of Nico Gleirscher (+0.071) and Wolfgang Kindl (+0.120). It was the second national title for Müller. "I expected a close race and I am even happier that I won. I was able to confirm my very good training results, now it's time to fine-tune my performance to be ready for the World Cup opener in Lake Placid", said Jonas Müller.

Madeleine Egle won the women's race with two best times and a total time of 1:19.781 minutes. Lisa Schulte was second (+0.471), while Dorothea Schwarz won the bronze medal (+1.112). "They were solid but not perfect runs, but I'm happy with the result. I still have to work on a few things before the start of the World Cup, the process isn't finished yet", said Madeleine Egle after her victory.

In their first competition together, the new doubles' team of Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl celebrated their first victory in 1:19,850. The Vorarlberg native and his Tyrolean partner impressed with two fastest times at the start and won both runs. Yannick Müller and Armin Frauscher (+0.570) followed in second, bronze went to the Tyrolean juniors Johannes Scharnagl and Moritz Schiegl (+2.132). Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf, second after the first run, crashed in the final. Both athletes were uninjured but were unable to finish the run.

Wolfgang Kindl said: "Even though I didn't win the title in singles this time, I'm not dissatisfied with my runs. It was a very close race, the internal competition is tough and everything has to go right. In the doubles, Thomas and I were able to take our good training performances into the race and confirm them. There is always room for improvement, but I think we can be very happy with our first race in doubles.

In the women's doubles Selina Egle and Lara Kipp lived up to their role as favorites and won the national championship. Maria Riedl and Nina Lech finished second.

Next week, the team of head coach Christian Eigentler will train at the track in Oberhof, followed by a final fine-tuning session at home ice in Innsbruck-Igls before the equipment and the team move to America.

The EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup will start in Lake Placid (USA) on December 8 and 9. One week later, the team will compete for World Cup points on the 2025 World Championship track in Whistler, Canada.

Photos: ÖRV / Ebermann