International World Championships press conference on Thursday morning
Koenigssee (FIL) On the occasion of the 50th FIL Luge World Championships, which will be held in the LOTTO Bayern Eisarena at Koenigssee from January 29-31, 2021, a live video press conference took place on Thursday, January 28, 2021, starting at 09:30 hrs.
The essential statements of the interview partners were:
Chris Mazdzer
My goal in these championships is to maybe survive. It is a lot of work but I can’t put too much expectations on myself, I am not at 100 per cent because of a shoulder surgery and issues with the sleds. So honestly, making it into the sprint competitions would be great, a top ten in doubles would be great. But most importantly it would be knowing what I have to do for next season, that is the goal.
You might have five competitions within three days because you compete in doubles and singles…
That is normal, that is how it goes right now. Sometimes in training I call it winning or losing. I took all of my training rounds within 24 hours, because I was the last two sessions and then the first two sessions. Sometimes it does not work out in your favor, I took all my runs in 24 hours, while some people would only take two runs in that time. This extra amount of time of racing does not bother me that much, because that is how training is.
Andris Sics/Juris Sics
Me and my brother never think about medals in big competitions. We are always thinking about good performance, two good runs and being happy in the finish with our results. We are only thinking about our performance and that is very important for us.
How difficult is Koenigssee?
Koenigssee is very difficult but we are more concentrating not on perfect runs but on optimal runs, because in competitions it is very hard to slide perfect runs. In trainings it is possible but in competitions everyone will drive optimal runs, so we are concentrating more on that and being stable and being happy at the finish with our results.
Do you see your chances better at the sprint competition?
I think everyone who is competing will have a chance to win the medal in the sprint or in the regular race. But sprint is an interesting discipline for me and my brother but we are also going to be competing for the medals in the regular competition.
At which point of the track will the ranking be determined?
Every race is decided at the finish, but at Koenigssee the start is also very important, the track is very tricky and you need to concentrate all the way down. The finish will be the most important so we will see. The race tomorrow will show.
Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken
Of course, defending the title is very important to us. Our goal is always to win. To be able to race a World Championship here at home on our home track at Koenigssee is of course a gift for us. We feel very comfortable here, we like the track very much, so the World Cups are just a minor matter, this is the highlight and there is only one goal, namely to give full throttle and of course we want to win, even if it is not easy.
Would a title at Koenigssee be especially significant because it is the home track of Wendl/Arlt?
This duel between the two German teams is of course super exciting on the one hand. I think it is also a very serious duel in every race. We have a bit of a power shift, simply because you have to say that the other two have become very strong on our home track and we were able to reverse that a bit somewhere and shoot back in, let's say, the "enemy camp". Of course, a title here is the goal, I think we have been very strong in the last World Cups here and if we can call that up and have two clean runs where we are also at peace with ourselves, then I think that is something nice if that should work out. But if you have a good race for you and you finish second, then that's something you can live with as an athlete, you just have to say that the other was better today.
Julia Taubitz
I think as a German team we already have a big advantage because we have raced a lot here. Of course, it has become relatively little since we are in the national team, we don't do many training courses here now, but overall we have worked on the track from an early age, have collected a lot of runs, had a good preparation. I like luge here anyway, I really like it here, I think that we as a German team already have a small advantage.
What do you have to do to be ahead of Natalie at the World Championships?
I definitely have to finish with two clean runs. I can't afford to make any mistakes, but I think it will be a very exciting race for both of us and we'll see who will be in between. At the start I have to give a little bit forward now, there I did a little bit slower today, that one comes in again and finds a little bit security. The weather is very decisive. Because the track is unfortunately not covered, the weather has a very big influence, let's see how it really turns out in the end. I'm still hoping for blue skies and sunshine, but we'll see if it turns out that way this weekend.
Natalie Geisenberger
Of course I'm not here to set myself the goal of "I'd like to finish in the top 25", but I'm really very very satisfied with how the season has gone and would like to be in the running for the medal. Where ultimately the journey goes we will see, it is also a bit on the weather, which will be a little tilt the next few days but hopefully on Sunday will be better again. I saw in the final training that Julia was brutally fast, unfortunately I still had a few mistakes in it, but I think that overall we are very strong as a German team, but also internationally can have some say, so it will be a tough fight.
Who do you see as your strongest competitors?
Julia for sure, but after her crash yesterday she had to ride well again and I think she did that very well, we all had a short look at the finish. On the other hand, you can see throughout the season that we are both relatively consistently in front, but I see even more in front, such as Madeleine Egle, Dajana Eitberger, Anna Berreiter, Tatyana Ivanova, she is also always strong. So there are really quite a few. Andrea Vötter is up here and beats us, if she gets through it, then she is also very fast at the bottom.
What do you have to do to be at the top in the end?
I have to give everything at the start, the last grains that I can scrape together somewhere. There are not many left, I have to be honest, because the season is getting really long now. I can see that I'm missing a few training days from last summer, but now I'm looking for the grains and I'll find them and then just really race twice. That's the most important thing here, to ride clean, it's hard enough here. There are a lot of places where small slips or even bigger slips can happen and that's why I think that nobody can be sure that he will be on top here. It's going to be a very close battle and going full throttle at the top and not making any mistakes on the way will be decisive.
At the following link you can see the press conference and on Thursday evening from 18:30 also the virtual World Cup opening live:
https://bsd-tv.de/#/home
