For Merle Fräbel, Her Home Track In Oberhof Is A Guarantee For Success

7th EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup in Oberhof (GER)

Oberhof (FIL/ 23 Jan 2026) Oberhof, of course Oberhof. One week after her success in the EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup on her home track, Merle Fräbel has won again. This is her third World Cup victory, all achieved in Oberhof. She also won her first major title at the European Championships a week ago at home in Oberhof. At first, it didn't necessarily look like a victory at the last World Cup before the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics. After the first run, the 22-year-old German was only in third place, behind Austrians Lisa Schulte and Hannah Prock. “The start was pretty modest in the first run,” explained Fräbel, “I slipped three times in the first corner.” The consequence for the second run: one less paddler. This allowed her to take more momentum with her onto the track. She needed a total of 1:23.330 seconds for her two runs. At the finish line, she revealed the secret of her success: “Between the two runs, I ate a Thuringian grilled sausage.”

Fräbel wasn't the only one struggling with the start corner; Lisa Schulte and Julia Taubitz also had problems. “If you want to beat Merle on her home track, you definitely have to do better in the start corner in the second run,” said Schulte. The Austrian, who was fastest in the first run, fell back to second place, 0.105 seconds behind, because of this mistake. She was just ahead of world champion Taubitz, who was only eighth at the halfway point. “It started at the start of the first run, when my gloves somehow got stuck,” reported the 29-year-old German. With the second-fastest time behind Fräbel, she was still able to improve to third place, 0.137 seconds behind. “I just enjoyed the second run,” she said, “but it annoys me: one run bad, one run great.” This means she remains within striking distance of Schulte in the overall World Cup standings. Schulte leads with 464 points, followed by Taubitz 15 points behind. But Schulte is in a fighting mood: "It's great that I can continue to wear the yellow jersey. I'd like to do so until the season finale."

Elina Bota narrowly missed the podium. The strong starter from Latvia improved from seventh place with the third-fastest time, finishing 0.198 seconds behind. Anna Berreiter (Germany/0.245 seconds behind) came in fifth. Nathalie Maag dropped from third to sixth place. The Swiss athlete, who finished third in the European Championships a week ago, initially came in fourth, but with the seventh-fastest time in the second run, she finished 0.251 seconds behind. Hanna Prock was even more inconsistent. The Austrian, twice winner of the season in Winterberg, was in second place after the first run and on course for a podium finish, but made too many mistakes in the second run and finished seventh (0.281) after recording the twelfth fastest time.

Link to the live TV broadcast and results of the 7th EBERSPÄCHER World Cup: fil-luge.org/en/results/eberspaecher-world-cup-51

Link to the results of the Mixed Event European Championships on Saturday, January 24, 2026, in Oberhof: fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-mixed-weltcup-presented-by-skechers-2025-2026-id-2581

Further Schedule & TV broadcasts
7th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup, Oberhof 2 (GER) & 1st Mixed Event European Championships
Local start time (=CET/MEZ)

Saturday, January 24, 2026

9:20 a.m. Women's doubles, 1st run
10:15 a.m. Women's doubles, 2nd run

11:10 a.m. Men's doubles, 1st run
12:25 p.m. Men's doubles, 2nd run

1:40 p.m. Mixed singles
3:10 p.m. Mixed doubles

All information is subject to change!