Natalie Geisenberger, Felix Loch and Eggert-Benecken lead their fields

Altenberg (RWH): Of course, it is currently impossible to predict which luge athletes will be lifting the Joska Cup at the Viessmann World Cup final at the track in Sigulda, Latvia on January 28, 2018. Ahead of the tour’s third stop in Altenberg December 2-3, 2017, however, you do not need much of a sixth sense to know that the chances of taking the title do not look good for either the defending title holder Roman Repilov of Russia or World Championship bronze medallist Dominik Fischnaller of Italy.

Both athletes suffered amidst slow conditions caused by snow and rain in Winterberg last Saturday with Fischnaller finishing 18th and Repilov in 19th. By therefore failing to qualify for the spots in Sunday’s BMW Sprint World Cup – which are awarded to the top 15 luge athletes – both men have lost any chance they had of taking the overall win. On account of their poor performances, the pair – both of whom were tipped for big things at the start of the season – are wallowing in 15th (Fischnaller / 73 points) and 19th place (Repilov / 52) in the overall standings, with little chance of hitting the top spot.

After three of 13 events, the overall standings in the Viessmann World Cup are led by Felix Loch of Germany with 255 points ahead of Russia’s former World Champion Semen Pavlichenko (240) and Austria’s current World Champion Wolfgang Kindl with 182 points.

In the women’s event, Olympic Champion Natalie Geisenberger (GER) cemented her lead in the overall standings by finishing third in the BMW Sprint World Cup and taking her total points to 270. Second place is held by Tatjana Hüfner (GER) with 215 points ahead of the gold medallist in the Sprint event Emily Sweeney (USA / 170).

In the overall World Cup standings for the doubles event, Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken (285) are currently in first place, followed by their teammates Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (255) and the Italians Ludwig Rieder/Patrick Rastner (181).

The German squad won the first team relay event in Innsbruck-Igls, naturally making them the favorites to win the second event in the Viessmann Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW. Should they win, it will mark their 33rd World Cup victory in the team relay, which is the latest discipline to be added to the International Luge Federation’s (FIL) Olympic roster.