Johannes Ludwig and Felix Loch convince with mental strength / Team Russia the fastest in the relay

Sochi (FIL) A look at the result list of the men's race at the 2nd EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Sochi signals "business as usual":

Johannes Ludwig wins ahead of Felix Loch (both Germany) and the Russian World Champion Roman Repilov. This is how several races have ended in the past. But a closer analysis reveals a completely different picture. After the first run, the favourites were behind, in front were Kristers Apajodis (Latvia), the Italian Dominik Fischnaller and Riks Kristers Rozitis (Latvia), surprisingly three lugers who had not expected it themselves.

As on Saturday, it rained again on Sunday at eleven degrees air temperature at the Sliding Centre Sanki in Rosa Khutor. This made the track duller and thus slower from rider to rider. "These are the crazy races in the warm outdoor conditions," said winner Ludwig, "so you can be prepared to not get all the way to the front in the first heat with the back numbers." The good thing is that the second heat will be run with the rankings reversed. "That turns the whole thing around again," said the World Cup leader. Ludwig was 20th at half-time, Loch was 15th and Repilov was 23rd.

"It was not easy again because of the weather," explained Austria's head coach René Friedl. About the requirement in these conditions, German head coach Norbert Loch said: "It is mainly a mental question. You know exactly beforehand that you need two runs that are as flawless as possible and with a ranking in the midfield after the first run without too much gap to the top, you can still attack the top well from 15th to 20th place in the second run."

The final relay race was also affected by the weather conditions. The Austrian team, the outstanding winner in Yanqing, finished sixth, starting as the last quartet. The Russians Viktoriia Demchenko, Semen Pavlichenko as well as Andri Bogdanov and Iurii Prokhorov won. Germany (Anna Berreiter, Johannes Ludwig, Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt) came in second followed by Latvia (Kendija Aparjode, Kristers Aparjods, Andris Sics/Juris Sics).

Time lists and further information on the 2nd EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup of the 2021/22 season in Sochi (RUS) are available at the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-weltcup-10