Felix Loch with 50th World Cup victory, Madeleine Egle wins for the third time in a row

Whistler (FIL/09.12.2022) This anniversary is fitting: Felix Loch celebrated his 50th World Cup victory at the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Whistler, Canada.

On the track, of all places, where the 33-year-old German achieved his first Olympic victory in 2010. "What can I say? It was time for the five to finally be in front," he said, beaming with joy. And he did not forget at that moment to send greetings to Natalie Geisenberger, who has 52 World Cup victories to her credit, but is taking a break because of her second pregnancy. "It was a perfect day - two top starts, two top runs," said Loch, who showed excellent recovery from his fall and thigh injury at the World Cup opener in Innsbruck-Igls. With a run time of 49.798 seconds Loch already set a new track record in the first run.

In the second run Loch was one thousandth of a second slower than Wolfgang Kindl, but it was enough for the anniversary. "Respect to Felix - 50th World Cup victory. You really have to take your hat off to this performance," said Austria's Kindl, who has taken the overall World Cup lead after three second-place finishes this season. Italian Dominik Fischnaller finished in third place. Opener winner Nico Gleirscher (Austria) finished only seventh in Whistler. In fifth place, the US American Tucker West finished the first World Cup race overseas after 2019.

Madeleine Egle made a perfect start to the season. The 24-year-old Austrian, after winning the individual World Cup and the sprint in the opening race of the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup in Innsbruck-Igls a week earlier, also took victory in the third race. "Unbelievable. I didn't think it would turn out like this," she was amazed by her performance.

Overall World Cup winner Julia Taubitz finished second ahead of her German teammate Merle Fräbel. She had led after the first run. "The first run was bomb," she said, "in the second I had a few mistakes in it. But I'm super happy with third place."

All results can be found at the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-weltcup-20