Madeleine Egle grabs victory and the records

Oberhof (FIL/25.01.2025) For Madeleine Egle, Oberhof is a safe bet. As in December at the first appearance of the EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup, the Austrian also won the second visit. And how: At the start, she improved her own record from 7.645 seconds to 7.493. And when the number 41.505 seconds lit up at the finish of the first run, the track record also belonged to her.

The old record of 41.901 seconds had been held by Switzerland's Natalie Maag for the past three years. Egle's time for the two runs was 1:23.117 seconds. The 26-year-old has thus extended her lead in the overall World Cup standings. She now has 544 points to her credit, with her rival Julia Taubitz having 515.

The 27-year-old German came in second, 0.113 seconds behind, and recognized Egle's superiority without envy. “She raced extremely well and really deserves to win,” said Taubitz. In her analysis, Egle said: “My good start helps me a lot, especially in Oberhof.” In addition, she has “perfectly tuned equipment that I work out together with the coaches”. Because the ice track in Oberhof is only 945 meters long, Taubitz said: “Madeleine is so fast at the start and the track is so short, I have no chance of catching up with her.”

Although Natalie Maag had lost her track record, the Swiss was overjoyed. “I've had a really difficult season with injuries to my finger, foot and back,” said the 27-year-old Swiss, fighting back tears, “so I'm all the happier now that I've finally made it back onto the podium.” She was 0.243 seconds behind Egle. Merle Fräbel (Germany) came in fourth, exactly three-tenths of a second behind, followed by Lisa Schulte (Austria/0.325). US rider Ashley Farquharson (0.558) took seventh place behind Anna Berreiter (Germany/0.436).