Altenberg (pps) Germany’s Olympic champion Felix Loch celebrated his second successive victory at the Viessmann Luge World Cup in Altenberg. Loch has thus a total of four World Cup wins to his credit. At the seventh stop of the World Cup series, the 2008 and 2009 World champion defeated two-time Olympic champion Armin Zoeggeler of Italy (gap of 0.141 seconds) to second place. One week ahead of the start of the Luge World Championships in Cesana, Italy, Albert Demchenko of Russia achieved his second podium finish this season. The 2006 Olympic runner-up took third place (gap of 0.190 seconds). Germany’s Ralf Palik celebrated a brillant debut in the Viessmann Luge World Cup event in Altenberg. In the first run the 20-year old even clocked a faster time than Demchenko, earning him a fourth place ahead of the second run. Eventually Palik finished in six postion.
Quotes
Felix Loch (GER / 2010 Olympic and two-time World champion)
“I’m getting better and better at the start. Today I’ve been able to keep that advantage through to the end. Well, ahead of the World Championships I’m improving and I’m really looking forward to Cesana. I like the track.”
Armin Zoeggeler (ITA / 2002 and 2006 Olympic and five-time World champion)
“I’m quite pleased with my performance here in Altenberg, especially with the second run. But since the track in Cesana is totally different you can’t really speak of a ‘test event’ for the Worlds. I think that Felix Loch is the top medal contender at the Worlds. After all, he has won twice lately and his performance is steadily improving.” Albert Demchenko (RUS / 2006 Olympic runner-up, 2006 and 2010 European champion)
“I’m not really happy with my performance here in Altenberg. But I’m still pleased with my third place because it clearly shows that I’m improving. I’m sure that I’ll be able to even further improve my performance at the upcoming Worlds in Cesana.”
