Winterberg (pps) Natalie Geisenberger of Germany is truly unique in the women’s singles, two teams are at the top in the doubles and in the men’s singles three lugers are tied in first place. Ahead of the third stop of the Viessmann Luge World Cup series in Winterberg, Germany, this weekend (November 30 - December 1, 2013) there are six different leaders at the top of the standings: this is a historical all-time high in the past 37 years of the World Cup.

With two top podium finishes in Lillehammer (Norway) and Innsbruck-Igls (Austria), defending World Cup Champion Geisenberger has a comfortable 81-point cushion. This is why it seems to be a foregone conclusion that 25-year-old Geisenberger has already punched her ticket to the Olympic Games in Sochi (Russia/February 7-23, 2014) - despite facing strong competition from her teammates with, among them, 2010 Olympic Champion Tatjana Huefner who seems to be back on track as she demonstrated with a second place finish in Innsbruck-Igls. Geisenberger said: “Well, it seems as if I’m going…“
In the doubles the two top teams in the Viessmann Luge World Cup – Germany’s World Champions Tobias Wendl-Tobias Arlt and European Champions Toni Eggert-Sascha Benecken – might well start planning their start at the Winter Olympics. With their victories in Lillehammer (Wendl-Arlt) and Innsbruck-Igls (Eggert-Benecken) they continued the everlasting duel of German-Austrian doubles’ wins and even extended the series to 31 consecutive German successes.

This duel between Austrian and German doubles teams started in the winter of 2010-2011. The last time a different national flag was hoisted for the winner at the victory ceremony was on January 9, 2010 when Christian Oberstolz-Patrick Gruber of Italy took the podium’s top spot at the World Cup in Winterberg.

A new leader in the men’s singles of the Viessmann Luge World Cup will surely be determined in Winterberg. After two events, no less than three lugers have 170 points to their credit: Germany’s Felix Loch, Olympic and four-time World Champion, and David Moeller, Olympic silver medalist and two-time World Champion, as well as Italy’s junior World Champion Dominik Fischnaller. This is a first in the 37-year-long World Cup history. Provided that no one will be tied for first place in Winterberg, there will surely be a sole leader in the men’s singles ahead of the two overseas World Cup events in Whistler (Canada) and Park City (USA).

Germany’s squad posted their 15th victory in the Team Relay event in Innsbruck-Igls, the seventh win in a row. Their last defeat dates back to the season final in Sigulda (Latvia) in the winter of 2011-2012 when Italy took the podium’s top spot. The Team Relay event will celebrate an anniversary in Winterberg: It will be the 20th time