Germany's women's doubles celebrate records in Oberhof

Oberhof (FIL/10. Feb. 2024) The women's doubles race at the EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup in Oberhof turned into a real festival of records. First, Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal (Germany) improved the start record to 7.690 seconds. However, the best time at the finish was set by World Champions Selina Egle and Lara Kipp (Austria) in 43.121 seconds.

This was a track record, but no wonder, because unlike in previous years, the women started from a new starting height, the same as the men's doubles. But that was not all. First Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer (Italy) improved the record to 43.075 seconds, before Degenhardt/Rosenthal raced even faster through the almost one-kilometer-long ice channel. The new record now stands at 43.049 seconds.

With a total time of 1:26.244 minutes Degenhardt and Rosenthal won their tenth World Cup race. On the same track where they became World Champions last year. Vötter/Oberhofer finished second, 0.033 seconds behind Egle/Kipp (0.121 seconds). Dajana Eitberger and Saskia Schirmer (Germany/0.518) were fourth. The Latvian duo Anda Upite/Kirija Bogdanova (0.590) followed closely ahead of the US doubles Maya Chan/Reannyn Weiler (0.846) and Chevonne Forgan/Sophia Kirkby (0.966).

Steu / Kindl with second victory in the first season

The men's race was less spectacular. For Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl (Austria) it was a confident performance with two fastest times in 1:23.928 minutes. A belated birthday present for Steu, who turned 30 on Friday. "Our second World Cup victory in our first year together," said Steu, adding with a broad grin, "and in the lion's den, the most German of all German luge tracks. Hannes Orlamünder and Paul Gubitz finished second, 0.123 seconds behind. The two Germans achieved their best World Cup result on their home track. "Finally, we showed what we're really capable of in a race," said Orlamünder, "now we have to work on where we're still bad - at the start. In any case, according to Hannes Orlamünder, a lot of pressure has been taken off them.

Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt were more than satisfied with their third place (0.190). The man in front position, Wendl, had hit his right hand on a piece of ice during training. "I was afraid it was broken," said the six-time Olympic champion. After a medical checkup on Friday, the all-clear was given. "Luckily it's only a hematoma," said Wendl, who was still happy about the best starting times in both runs.

The Latvian duo Martins Bots/Roberts Plume (0.336) improved from seventh to fourth place. "We didn't change the setup between the two runs," said Plume, "but the track held up better than in the first run. They were followed by two Austrian doubles: Yannick Müller/Armin Frauscher (0.436) ahead of Juri Gatt/Riccardo Schöpf (0.486). With the second-best time (41.856) in the second run the World Champions improved from eleventh place.

Schedule 6th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup, Oberhof (GER)
Local start time (CET/MEZ)

Saturday, February 10, 2024

13:05 Ladies, 1st run
14:30 Ladies, 2nd run

Sunday, February 11, 2024

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

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

Link to the FIL Luge - YouTube