In spite of weather caprices: Felix Loch wins his tenth World Cup race in Altenberg

Altenberg (FIL): The men's race at the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup in Altenberg was a crazy race, in which Felix Loch won ahead of his team mate Max Langenhan (both Germany). This was his third success in just the third race this season. It was exciting how the decision was made. Six degrees outside temperature and strong wind had a powerful influence on the ice quality. "Wind creeps over the ice, causing hoarfrost to form on the track," explains German national coach Norbert Loch, "even small mistakes have a strong effect”.

But even those who drove through the 1387-meter-long ice channel with rear starting numbers without any mistakes had no chance. This happened for Loch in the first run, where he finished in 17th place 0.602 seconds behind Russian Roman Repilov, who had started much earlier with a starting number of 19. That is why Loch said before the second run: "A lot is possible from 17th place, I am half an hour earlier than in the first run.

Felix Loch and Altenberg - this is a special relationship. On December 5th 2009 he won his first World Cup race. Eleven years later it was success number ten on the track in Kohlgrund. "I simply like this track. It has a cool character with many passages where you can just let the sled run," says the three-time Olympic champion.

Max Langenhan was able to get second place and his first World Cup podium. "Of course it's crass how I was swept to the front. I know that this was not a normal race, but I'm still very happy," said the 21-year-old German.

Kristers Aparjods, who finished third, had a similar opinion. "That was a crazy race today. I didn't think that I could make it to the podium. I fought with the lane here in training and then showed my two best runs for the race," said the Latvian.

And half-time leader Roman Repilov? The Russian was slowed down in his second run by the decreasing ice quality, but like Felix Loch in the first run, Aparjods managed the 17th best run in the second heat. Overall he placed in fifth behind his compatriot Semen Pavlichenko.

Detailed results and further information about the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Altenberg can be found here: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/eberspaecher-world-cup