The FIL Luge World Cup on Natural Track in Vatra Dornei (ROU) brought a big surprise. After eleven consecutive World Cup victories Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) was beaten for the first time. Her team-mate Greta Pinggera took the victory in the women, Alex Gruber (ITA) won the men’s competition.

The “Bucovina”-track in Vatra Dornei has its own rules. The surprise was already in the air after the first run, Tina Unterberger (AUT) was in the lead, followed by Greta Pinggera and Michelle Diepold (AUT), Evelin Lanthaler was “only” in fourth place. With slightly high blood-pressure in the finale Lanthaler showed an excellent performance and took the lead. Diepold couldn’t beat the time of Lanthaler, but Pinggera knows the characteristics of the track - on which she won the World Championship gold medal in 2017 - very well and finished with a total time of 1:44.57 minutes before Lanthaler (+0.04). At that moment the winning streak of Lanthaler was broken. Tina Unterberger (+0.39) stayed behind Lanthaler and ranked third.

(left to right) Lanthaler, Pinggera, Unterberger

“I was totally relaxed before the race, after the rather bad results at the beginning of the season I had nothing to lose. I already felt good in training and things went well in the race”, Pinggera said after her first World Cup victory since Deutschnofen in 2018.

“I just made too many mistakes in the first run. The second run was better and I set the best time of the day. I knew that the winning streak would come to an end sometime, I'm still happy and I'm happy for Greta, ”said Evelin Lanthaler, who is still leading the overall standings with 385 points, followed by Pinggera (315) and Unterberger (310).

The World Champion 2017 also wins in men's race

Alex Gruber was a mighty man: in the first run he took the lead with a fabulous time of 50.05 seconds, in the final the Italian saved the lead over the finish line and celebrated his second win of the season with a total time of 1:40.40 minutes , his team-mate Patrick Pigneter finished second just 0.07 seconds behind Gruber, followed by Michael Scheikl (+0.10) in third position, ahead of his team-mate Thomas Kammerlander (+0.59).

“The first run was perfect, flawless and the luge felt amazing, which is not easy on this bumpy track. In the second run I had some mistakes and I didn't feel good at the finish. I'm really happy about this win. In the overall World Cup it will be a tough fight and extremely exciting, ”said Gruber, analyzing his performance in Vatra Dornei, where he won the World Champion title for the first time in 2017.

In the overall standings the lead remains highly competitive, with Alex Gruber (320 points) just ahead of Michael Scheikl and Thomas Kammerlander (both 315) and Patrick Pigneter (310).

From January 24th to 26th the fourth stage in the FIL Luge World Cup on Natural Track is scheduled in Deutschnofen (ITA).