LAAS/LASA. From February 2nd to 4th 2018, the 11th FIL Junior World Championships on Luge on Natural Track take place at the Gafair track in Laas/Lasa (ITA). Altogether, 40 men, 28 women, and ten doubles have registered for the races, 21 nations are represented.
On Saturday, February 3rd, the first competition runs of all categories as well as the final runs of the doubles were held.

At the doubles’ event, Fabian Achenrainer/Miguel Brugger (AUT) lived up to expectations and won the gold medal. The Austrians, who had also claimed the title of this season’s Junior World Cup with four victories in four races, were not to beat at the Junior World Championships in Laas/Lasa as well – despite the fact that not everything went smoothly for them: “After the training runs, it didn’t look too good for us, and we also made a little mistake in the first leg,” explained Achenrainer, while his partner Brugger added: “We knew that it would be difficult and that we had to give everything we have, because the competitors are very strong.” However, in the end it was a clear victory for the new Junior World Champions, they were 1.13 seconds faster than the runner-ups. “To win at the World Championships with a lead of over one second against so many strong competitors is great,” said Achenrainer, who summed up his successful season: “This year, we won everything and were as good as never before. I, for one, wouldn’t mind if it continues this way,” laughed the Austrian, who will also participate together with Brugger at the 27th FIL European Championships, which will take place next week in Obdach-Winterleiten (AUT).

Florian Haselrieder/Elias Gruber (ITA) ranked second in Laas/Lasa – this came as a little surprise, given the fact that the Italians only recently had teamed up. “About three weeks ago, we decided to start at the doubles’ event. To stand on the podium now feels really great,” explained Gruber. Haselrieder added: “We had hoped for a good rank, but we had never expected to perform that well. Hopefully, we can continue this way.”

The bronze medal was awarded to Kirill Kravchuk/Aleksandr Zyrianov (RUS): The Russians, who had also been runner-ups in the overall standings of this season’s Junior World Cup, had a time of 2:15.29 minutes and therefore were 2.19 seconds slower than the victorious Austrians.

The first competition run of the women was dominated by the Italian athletes: Alexandra Pfattner delivered the best runtime (1:02.60 minutes) and therefore kept her teammates Nadine Staffler (+0.31) and Christa Unterholzner (+0.37) at bay.
The first competition run of the men’s event was also a close race: In the end, Florian Markt (AUT) ranked first with a time of 1:01.86 minutes, followed by his teammate Fabian Achenrainer (+0.04) and the Italian Laurin Jakob Kompatscher (+0.14).

On Sunday, February 4th 2018, the eleventh edition of the Junior World Championships will come to an end with the second and the third competition runs of the women and the men.

Results:
http://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/11th-fil-junioren-world-championships-on-luge-on-natur-track