Julia Taubitz celebrates fifth singles win

Altenberg (RWH) Vice World Champion Julia Taubitz from Germany celebrated the fifth singles victory of her career at the Viessmann Luge World Cup in Altenberg (GER), but missed out on the top spot in the overall classification. The current leader, Russia’s Tatyana Ivanova, finished second to retain top spot by two points.

In a career-best result, third place on the track in the Ore Mountains went to Italian Andrea Vötter. Her compatriot Sandra Robatscher won last year’s race in Altenberg. Back then, the race was called off after the first run due to snowfall.

After six of twelve events, Tatyana Ivanova, who won silver at the 2012 World Championships in Altenberg, leads the overall standings with 482 points ahead of Julia Taubitz (480). The Russian Victoriia Demchenko, who finished sixth in Altenberg, now lies third on 332 points.

The Norwegian town of Lillehammer is set to host the fifth Viessmann Luge World Cup of the 2019/2020 season this coming weekend. The 51st European Championships of the International Luge Federation (FIL) will also be staged on the track which hosted the 1994 Olympics.

Quotes

Julia Taubitz (GER / World Championship silver medallist 2019)

“My runs weren’t great so I’m really glad I still managed to win. It’s so nice to take victory on my home track. I’m in a positive frame of mind going into the second half of the season.”

Tatyana Ivanova (RUS / three-time European Champion)

“I was a little nervous before the race. We trained in warm temperatures all week, and now it was suddenly much colder and a good deal faster. I didn’t slide well on the second run, which is a real shame.”

Andrea Vötter (ITA / Junior World Champion 2014)

“This is such a good feeling. I’d love to repeat it again as often as possible. I don’t think my performance was great, but the sled worked very well. I managed the transition from training to the race pretty well. The track was much quicker in the race.”