Just like at the end of the year: Johannes Ludwig also the fastest on New Year's Day

Winterberg (FIL) In the run-up to the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Winterberg, Felix Loch had spoken of summer luge in view of the high temperatures. In the two runs the starting numbers already played a role because the ice became slower and slower as the competition went on. But in the end, the winner of the first race of the year was the one who was also in front in the last race in 2021: Johannes Ludwig. The German was 0.068 seconds faster than Nico Gleirscher, who finished second ahead of his Austrian compatriot Wolfgang Kindl (0.181 seconds behind). Roman Repilov came in fourth. The World Champion from Russia, only twelfth in the first run, could still improve tremendously.

"It's a nice start into the new year," said winner Ludwig. But the leader in the overall World Cup was already looking further into the future. First of all to the three races still to come in the World Cup and of course to the Olympic Games in Beijing. "I still see potential in myself," he explained. He wants to work on that in the next few weeks. "To not let sloppiness get in, I'm trying to push myself and improve."

Although he dropped back after setting the best time in heat one (52.121 sec), Nico Gleirscher was almost satisfied with his rides. "I had quite a good feeling, especially in the first run," he said, "but in the second run I had a few small mistakes." Nevertheless, he made it to the podium on his favourite track for the second time in his career, finishing second as he did a year ago. "To beat Johannes on this track, you can't make any mistakes," said the 24-year-old Sprint World Champion. And was nevertheless satisfied: "Second place was important for me with regard to the Olympic qualification."

Wolfgang Kindl had only managed the 18th fastest time in the first run due to his late start number. In the second run he still managed to get on the podium with the fastest run (52.215). "My early start number helped me because the track had dropped by about five tenths," said the athlete from Innsbruck. Therefore, he rated the performances of his competitors all the higher: "Therefore, hats off to the performance of Johannes and Nico."

All results and further information on the 6th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup can be found under the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-weltcup-13