Records tumble in luge - Germany, Austria, Italy, Latvia and ROC win medals in Beijing 2022

Beijing (FIL) Germany, Austria, Italy, Latvia and ROC (Russian Olympic Committee)  took the medals in Beijing 2022. German lugers finished the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games with the best record in history. Natalie Geisenberger crowned herself Germany's record Olympic champion with six gold medals. The 34-year-old is a six-time gold medallist in luge after winning the team relay. The doubles Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt also won for the sixth time at Olympic Winter Games. Johannes Ludwig celebrated his third Olympic victory with the team gold.

For the final fourth Olympic competition Natalie Geisenberger, Johannes Ludwig and Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt also won as a team and took Olympic gold in the relay. However, their lead was only 0.080 seconds over the Austrian quartet with Madeleine Egle, Wolfgang Kindl as well as Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller. The doubles had made a small mistake on the exit from turn 13. Steu said gratefully: "My great teammates pulled it out despite our mistake, we won silver, not lost gold." Latvia won bronze with Eliza Tiruma, Kristers Aparjods and Martins Bots/Roberts Plume. The four lugers were 0.948 seconds slower.
Both Natalie Geisenberger and the doubles Wendl/Arlt thus won six gold medals each, for Ludwig it was the third Olympic gold after his victory in Beijing on Sunday as well as the team triumph four years ago in Pyeongchang.

Johannes Ludwig wins gold ahead of Wolfgang Kindl and Dominik Fischnaller

At the start of the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, Johannes Ludwig became Olympic champion in the men's singles. The 35-year-old German skied the fastest time in three of the four runs at the National Sliding Center in Yanqing.

"Unbelievable," was Ludwig's first comment. In the end, he was 0.160 seconds ahead of Wolfgang Kindl (Austria). The bronze medal went to Italy's Dominik Fischnaller (0.951 seconds back). Fourth place went to Felix Loch (Germany). The three-time Olympic champion was already 1.143 seconds behind.

"Round three and four are almost like a new race," Ludwig had said after taking the lead at half-time. The 1.87-metre athlete then started the second day just like the first - with a track record. He improved the best time in the 1583-metre-long ice track to 57.043 seconds. That is another two hundredths of a second faster. In addition, he set the start record in 2.455 seconds. For the winner of the overall World Cup, the Olympic victory is his greatest success, but not his most important. He celebrated that four years ago at the Games in Pyeongchang, when he won bronze by two thousandths of a second ahead of Dominik Fischnaller. "This medal has contributed to the fact that I have once again developed significantly in my sport." 

Geisenberger with emotional gold hattrick 

Natalie Geisenberger won gold in the women's singles two days after the men's event, making her historic Olympic hat-trick perfect. In the third of four runs Geisenberger convinced with a track record of 58.226 seconds in the Olympic ice track in Yanqing. With two best times and twice the second-best run time behind team-mate Julia Taubitz, the 34-year-old Bavarian luge athlete made her mark in the Olympic history books. The 34-year-old became the first three-time Olympic luge champion in the single-seater event in Yanqing. She has also won three Olympic gold medals with the team relay (2014, 2018 and now 2022).
After four runs, the luger from Miesbach in Bavaria was 0.493 seconds ahead of team-mate Anna Berreiter in her Olympic debut. Tatyana Ivanova took bronze for the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
Austria's Madeleine Egle, Hannah Prock and Lisa Schulte came fourth to sixth. Co-favourite Madeleine Egle (+1.355 sec.) had tumbled out of the dreaded turn 13 in the first run with intermediate best time. Top favourite Julia Taubitz, who fell in the second run, finished seventh behind the Austrians.
"My goal was to be able to race for a medal again. There was a lot of pressure off me. I was very nervous after all the crashes. The exit of turn 13 made me feel very insecure. That it was enough for gold is insane. I have no words for that. Thanks to my family", said Geisenberger.

Wendl / Arlt do it like Geisenberger - luge to Olympic hattrick in Beijing

After Natalie Geisenberger, the doubles' team of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt has also achieved the gold hat-trick. After Sotchi and PyeongChang, the two lugers from Berchtesgaden-Königssee were also the fastest at the National Sliding Center in Yanqing.
With best times in both runs, including the track record in 58.255 seconds in the first run, they distanced their team mates Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken by 0.099 seconds. Third went to Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller. The Austrians were already 0.511 seconds behind. They were followed by the Latvian doubles Martins Bots with Roberts Blume (0.865 seconds behind) and Andris and Juris Sics (0.883).
During the World Cup season, Eggert/Benecken were usually the better team, Wendl/Arlt could only win one race. They often struggled with their sled. After their gold runs they were beaming. "What we put on the runners with Georg Hackl," said Wendl, the man in front, "that was a hard project." And then added with a broad grin: "We had to tame the sled first, during the season it was hard to tame, today we did it." And Arlt added with a smile: "You just have to know when to perform."

All Olympic results can be found at the following link: https://olympics.com/beijing-2022/olympic-games/en/results/luge/olympic-daily-schedule.htm