Fourth World Cup victory for Summer Britcher

Lillehammer (RWH) Summer Britcher has thrown her hat into the ring as a potential medal winner at the forthcoming Olympics. More than two years after her last win in December 2015, the US luger clinched her fourth victory in the Viessmann Luge World Cup to add her name to the list of potential medal contenders at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. With around three weeks to go until the opening ceremony in Korea on 9 February, Olympic gold medallist Natalie Geisenberger (GER) finished second, with her teammate Julia Taubitz in third.

32-year-old Romanian Raluca Stramaturaru achieved a career-best finish of sixth place ahead of her third Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang.

Natalie Geisenberger retains a commanding lead in the overall Viessmann World Cup rankings with 880 points. Tatjana Hüfner is second overall on 645 points, having finished fourth this weekend. Dajana Eitberger currently lies third on 634 points. She crashed on her second run and failed to finish.

The Viessmann World Cup in Lillehammer will conclude with the BMW Sprint World Cup on Sunday. The season finale takes place from Friday 26  to Sunday 28 January 2018 in Sigulda, Latvia.

Quotes

Summer Britcher (USA / U23 World Champion 2017):

“It feels really great. Of course there’s no comparison with my first World Cup victory. My whole family was there for that. This time I have my luge family around me, which feels great too. A medal at the Olympics is a real possibility.”

Natalie Geisenberger (GER / 2014 Olympic Champion, three-time World Champion):

“I’m very happy with today’s race, given what happened in training. On day one I hit the side 14 times on three runs. So second place is really, really good.”

Julia Taubitz (GER / Junior World Champion 2016 and U23 World Championship silver medallist):

“After the last few weeks, this third place is good for the soul. I had a lot of issues in training, but it all came together nicely in the race.”