Madeleine Egle keeps World Cup decision open with victory - relay win for Germany

Oberhof (FIL) The duel between World Champion Julia Taubitz and Madeleine Egle from Austria continued at the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Oberhof.

After the two runs the Austrian Egle had the horns in front by two hundredths of a second. The 23-year-old had laid the foundation for her fifth World Cup victory in the first run. After setting the start record in 7.568 seconds, she finished in 41.994 seconds. Taubitz was 0.116 seconds slower on her home track. "Madeleine drove really strong," Taubitz paid tribute to her competitor's performance, "but it was still really close at the end." Because the 25-year-old countered in heat two, she managed the fastest run in 41.894 seconds. She came very close to Egle, but it was not quite enough for a home victory. "Unbelievable how Julia drove in the second run," praised Egle, "I'm glad that it was still enough." The assessment of national coach Norbert Loch was also appreciative: "Madeleine Egle shows it - from top to bottom twice sparkling clean runs, then you are also in front."

"Madeleine and Julia are a number of its own at the moment," said Anna Berreiter, who had a team-internal duel with Natalie Geisenberger behind the two currently outstanding luge ladies. While the Olympic champion was better in run one, although she had caught her hand between the pod and the handle after the start, Berreiter countered in run two and, coming from sixth place, was still able to push Geisenberger out of third place. However, the gap to the winner Egle was already considerable with 0.265 seconds. In the end Geisenberger was a hundredth of a second behind Berreiter.

Andrea Vötter demonstrated her improving form. After 13th place in run one, the Italian started a race to catch up. After setting the start record in 7.559 seconds, which Berreiter (7.549) immediately took from her, the 26-year-old South Tyrolean finished in seventh place behind Austria's Hanna Prock with the fifth-fastest time (42.175).

But ahead of the season finale in St. Moritz, all eyes are on Taubitz and Egle. "It remains exciting between us," says Taubitz after looking at the intermediate ranking. The German has a 57-point lead over the Austrian. "I'm really looking forward to St. Moritz," says Egle, "it's a track I haven't raced on that often." She doesn't feel any pressure, though. Taubitz is also having a lot of fun with this duel.

In the final team relay, the German team with Julia Taubitz, Johannes Ludwig as well as Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken prevailed in 2:21.536 minutes. The Latvians (Elina Ieva Vitola, Kristers Aparjods, Andris and Juris Sics) were 0.535 seconds behind. Only six thousandths of a second behind followed the Austrian quartet with Madeleine Egle, Nico Gleirscher as well as Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller.

The complete results of the EBERSPÄCHER Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW are available here: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/eberspaecher-team-relay-world-cup-presented-by-bmw-10