Lisa Schulte wins World Championship title with two super runs

Altenberg (FIL/28 Jan 2024) When two fight, the third is happy. Julia Taubitz or Madeleine Egle - that was the question before the 52nd FIL Luge World Championships in Altenberg. But then Lisa Schulte (Austria) took the gold medal. Ahead of Julia Taubitz (Germany) and Schulte's teammate Madeleine Egle. "I had two great runs," said the 23-year-old Schulte before going into detail: "I had a great start and a great run. I also hit turn nine really well. She needed a total of 1:43.901 seconds for the two runs. Sprint World Champion Taubitz said appreciatively: "Lisa was unbeatable today, it was a strong performance. She herself was annoyed by a few small mistakes in her runs, which resulted in a deficit of 0.104 seconds. Nevertheless, her conclusion was: "I'm relieved that it went so well". Egle's deficit: 0.175 seconds.

The second run turned out to be a record-breaking race. Kendija Aparjode (Latvia) was the first to break the 52-second barrier in 51.958 seconds. However, the five women who followed her through the ice channel also stayed under the old record of 52.036 seconds set by Natalie Geisenberger (Germany) six years ago. The six-time Olympic champion, who officially retired in Altenberg, congratulated the new record holder Merle Fräbel of Germany, who improved the record to 51.786 seconds. "I hope the record stays with me for as long as possible," said Fräbel, who defended her U23 world title. Italy's Verena Hofer was second and Fräbel's teammate Melina Fischer was third in her first World Championships.

Taubitz praised: "The track workers did a great job." The weather conditions also played their part with temperatures around freezing. Fräbel finished fifth in the final standings (0.324 seconds down) behind Elina Vitola (Latvia/0.298). Her compatriot Aparjode finished sixth (0.512) ahead of sprint runner-up Natalie Maag (Switzerland/0.588).

By this time Anna Berreiter was out of the race. The defending champion almost crashed after making a mistake in the passage after the roundabout. The 24-year-old German lost so much time that she missed the final of the 20 fastest riders in 24th place, 0.960 seconds behind the leader Schulte.