Emily Sweeney, Loch and Wendl/Arlt win at BMW Sprint World Cup

 Winterberg (RWH): Emily Sweeney of the USA, Felix Loch, and Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt are the first luge athletes to win the BMW Sprint World Cup this season. At the season opener at VELTINS Ice Arena in Winterberg, the 24-year-old US athlete celebrated the first World Cup win of her career. For Olympic Champion Loch, the win marked his 35th individual win, while it was the 36th victory for Wendl/Arlt.

 For her first ever win, Emily Sweeney, who finished fourth at the 2017 Sprint World Championships, pushed her team mate Summer Britcher and Natalie Geisenberger (GER) back into second and third place. This result has helped Olympic Champion Geisenberger to cement her position at the top of the overall standings with 270 points. Second place is held by Tatjana Hüfner, who finished fourth in the BMW Sprint, with 215 points ahead of Emily Sweeney (170). 

 The Olympic Champion Felix Loch finished ahead of former World Champion Semen Pavlichenko of Russia and Austria’s Nico Gleirscher to take the top spot. The son of Gerhard Gleirscher, the 1997 bronze medallist at the World Championships in Innsbruck-Igls, therefore achieved the best result of his young career. After three of 13 events, the overall standings for the Viessmann World Cup are led by Felix Loch with 255 points, followed by Pavlichenko (240) and Austria’s current World Champion Wolfgang Kindl (182 points), who finished fifth in the BMW Sprint World Cup.

 In the doubles event, the Olympic Champions Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt were followed by their team mates Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken and Robin Geueke/David Gamm in second and third place. Eggert/Benecken (285) are currently at the top of the overall World Cup standings, with Wendl/Arlt (255) and the Italians Rieder/Rastner (181) following behind.