First victory for Merle Fräbel on her home track

Oberhof (FIL/10. Feb. 2024) Julia Taubitz and Anna Berreiter raced from the leaders wall to the track to welcome their team-mate Merle Fräbel. The 20-year-old German won her first World Cup race at the EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup in Oberhof. A little surprising. Although she was already in the lead after the first run, the overall World Cup leaders Taubitz and Madeleine Egle (Austria) had better chances. The track was getting worse from sled to sled in temperatures of six degrees Celsius. But the 1.87 m tall Fräbel, who learned to luge on this track, was able to buck the trend.

"That was really great of Merle, hats off," said Taubitz. Fräbel's two runs totaled 1:24.956 minutes. Egle was 0.124 seconds slower, Taubitz 0.152. Of course, Fräbel enjoyed the reception from her team-mates, but she enjoyed the awards ceremony even more. "I feel mega good, I'm mega proud of myself," she said. After all, there were a lot of family and friends in the finish area. Then she said: "I've learned a lot, I've learned to switch off, to listen, to concentrate on myself.”

It looked like Egle's fourth win of the season for a long time. But she herself was skeptical. "The track didn't slow down too much, you could see that with me too," said the Austrian, "I didn't think it would be enough for me to take the lead either. "But she was happy with Fräbel: "Merle did a great job, it's her home track, she was just faster and deserved the win. For me it's not a first place lost, but a second place won".

After a flawless run with the fastest time (42.131 seconds) in the second run, Taubitz took the lead. She had missed out on a better position in the first run due to a skid on the straightaway before the kreisel. "The first run really annoyed me," she said, "I didn't need to make that mistake.”

Anna Berreiter, World Champion on this track a year ago, slipped to fourth place (0.239) ahead of Kendija Aparjode (Latvia/0.241) and Switzerland's Natalie Maag (0.345) thanks to Fräbel's flawless run. 

The remaining schedule of the 6th EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup, Oberhof (GER)

Local start time (CET/MEZ)

Sunday, February 11

10:00 a.m. Men, 1st run
11:30 a.m. Men's 2nd run
13:30 Team Relay

Link to results: fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-weltcup-33

Link to the FIL Luge - YouTube Channel