Preview 5th FIL EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup Altenberg (GER):
Half-time of the season in Altenberg's Kohlgrund: Wendl/Arlt on the brink of 55th World Cup victory

Altenberg (FIL/08.01.2025) After the sporting start to the year in Sigulda, Latvia, the team led by Head of OC Jens Morgenstern, Managing Director of Wintersport Altenberg (Osterzgebirge) GmbH, welcomes the luge elite to the 5th FIL EBERSPAECHER World Cup this weekend on the SachsenEnergie ice track in Altenberg. From February 10 to 12, 2025, World Cup points will be awarded on the challenging artificial ice track in Altenberg's Kohlgrund.

109 sleds from 19 nations will compete in Altenberg. Registered are 33 women's and 40 men's singles as well as 15 women's and 21 men's doubles. In addition to the World Cup races, the third of five team relays as part of the EBERSPAECHER Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW is on the agenda on Sunday.

Schulte, Gleirscher, Egle/Kipp and Bots/Plume lead the overall World Cup standings

The upcoming races mark the halfway point in this year’s FIL EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup. After the races in Altenberg, the World Cups in Winterberg (GER), Oberhof II (GER), PyeongChang (KOR) and Yanqing (CHN) are still on the season calendar. Even though Team Austria continues to dominate and once again finished on the podium in every race recently in Sigulda, the World Cup races so far have shown that the international world elite has moved closer together and the season remains exciting. After four of nine World Cup races in the World Cup winter, it is worth taking a look at the overall World Cup standings. Lisa Schulte, Nico Gleirscher and the women’s doubles Selina Egle / Lara Kipp (all Austria) as well as the Latvian doubles Martins Bots / Roberts Plume are currently leading the World Cup standings.

The reigning World Champion, Lisa Schulte (AUT), has lost none of her momentum over the Christmas break and finished third in Sigulda. This makes her the only athlete in the entire World Cup to have finished on the podium in all four World Cup races so far this season. With three third places and one second place, she has taken the lead in the overall women’s World Cup.

Team-mate Nico Gleirscher underlined his current dominance in Sigulda and ended a 23-year drought with his second win of the season. The last time an Austrian won in Sigulda was Markus Prock in January 2002.

Selina Egle and Lara Kipp (AUT) are currently the measure of all things in the women’s doubles and luged to their third win in a row in Sigulda. Their only “slip-up” so far is their sixth place in Lillehammer. There, on the other hand, the Americans Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirkby won, who are currently in second place overall with three podium finishes.

The men's doubles are particularly exciting, with four different winners in four World Cup races. In addition to the three German doubles Eggert/Müller, Orlamünder/Gubitz and Wendl/Arlt, the sprint world champions from Altenberg, Bots/Plume (LAT), who have taken the lead in the overall World Cup with one win and two second places, have also impressed. Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt are looking forward to Altenberg with great anticipation. If you exclude the newly formed mixed event from the statistics, they have won their 54th World Cup to date in Sigulda. Even though their last victory here was ten years ago, a win this weekend could see them take over the sole lead in the all-time leaderboard. Most recently, they raced to the 50th World Cup victory for Team Germany in the team relay in Sigulda.

An overview of the overall World Cup standings and the individual disciplines can be found here: Current Results – International Luge Federation FIL

Quotes:

Lisa Schulte (AUT): “I'm very happy! The whole week in Sigulda was very cool, I trained well and I'm absolutely happy that I was able to get the two runs down like this. It's a lot of fun at the moment and I'm looking forward to continuing like this in Altenberg. Of course, it's a new race every year, but I'm really looking forward to racing there again, where I became world champion last year.””

Merle Fräbel (GER): “Oberhof is my home track, but I'm really looking forward to Altenberg. I really enjoy racing there. I've had problems there from time to time, but we had another training camp there before Christmas and I was very consistent there. That's why I'm very optimistic and I'm looking forward to seeing how it will turn out.”

Selina Egle (AUT): “We didn't necessarily expect to come out on top in Sigulda and take our third win in a row. The lead in the overall World Cup is great, but only a snapshot. We have to continue to deliver our performance week after week, as we all know, it's not settled until the end.”

Jessica Degenhardt (GER): “We still have some unfinished business with my home track in Altenberg since the World Championships last year. In the curve nine we have to “attack” again, like every year. We have to make the best of it. We've already had a few good runs this season and we hope we can transfer that to Altenberg.”

Racula Stramaturaru (ROU): „We had a crash and I got a little injured at my left hand. We therefore decided not to slide in Sigulda to be ready for the next competitions. Altenberg should be okay for sliding again. Curve nine is always crucial at Altenberg. We are usually sliding really good there, so we hope to be in good shape this week again.“

Dajana Eitberger (GER): “We still have something to make up for, not just for Altenberg, but for the whole season. We actually just want to be able to repeat what we've already shown in training. I think we had a good preparation in Altenberg in the fall, we were there again before the holidays and had a few good runs. Now we're hoping that we'll finally hit our stride and get a great result.”

Max Langenhan (GER): “I've always raced very well in Altenberg in recent years, so I'm very confident. I had a great World Championships last year and very good World Cup races the years before that - I hope I can take the flow from Sigulda with me and then I'll know how to race in Altenberg in order to achieve fast times.”

Tobias Wendl (GER): “ We still have to make up some ground in Altenberg with regards to the World Championships. The Austrians really gave us a run for our money there. We'll see if we can go the extra mile. We're well on track and hope that we can take our current performance with us. That's what we thought last year too, and then we finished third. So Altenberg is always good for a surprise.

Schedule & TV coverage
5. EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup, Altenberg (GER)
Local start time (CET/MEZ)

Friday, January 10, 2025

11:00 Nations Cup
14:30 Training Seeded group

Saturday, January 11, 2025

09:30 Women’s Doubles, 1st run
10:25 Women’s Doubles, 2nd run

11:20 Men’s Singles, 1st run
12:45 Men’s Singles, 2nd run

13:50 Men’s Doubles, 1st run
14:55 Men’s Doubles, 2nd run

Sunday, January 12, 2025

10:30 Women’s Singles, 1st run
11:55 Women’s Singles, 2nd run

13:30 Team Relay

Subject to change without notice!