Natalie Geisenberger, Johannes Ludwig and Eggert-Benecken ahead at half-way point

Lake Placid (RWH) The Viessmann World Cup is heading into the Christmas break and – after the BMW Sprint World Cup event in Lake Placid (New York state, USA) – Natalie Geisenberger, Johannes Ludwig and Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken (all GER) are the current leaders in the overall standings. Following the season opener in Innsbruck-Igls, the BMW Sprint World Cup tour moved to the artificial track on Mount van Hoevenberg, where the three events were won by women’s Olympic Champion Natalie Geisenberger, Russia’s Roman Repilov, and the current World Champions in the doubles event Eggert-Benecken.

The final of the BMW Sprint World Cup – whose three events count towards the overall points for the Viessmann World Cup – is scheduled for the season finale in Sochi, Russia (24 February 2019).

In the women’s race, Natalie Geisenberger pushed US athlete Summer Britcher back into second place. Julia Taubitz of Germany finished in third. After the sixth of twelve events, Natalie Geisenberger – the 2014 and 2018 Olympic Champion – is leading the overall standings with 570 points, followed by Julia Taubitz (495). Summer Britcher has climbed to third place with 330 points.

In the men’s event, Roman Repilov (RUS) followed his success in the Viessmann World Cup race the day before with yet another victory. Second place went to his team mate Semen Pavlichenko. Johannes Ludwig followed in third place. Ahead of the next stop in the Viessmann World Cup – a classic race on the artificial track in Königssee on 5/6 January 2019 – the overall standings are led by Olympic bronze medallist Ludwig on 420 points, followed by Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl (370) and Felix Loch (GER / 362), who finished eighth in the sprint.

After being disqualified from the Viessmann World Cup race due to a heavy sled and, as a result, becoming ineligible for the sprint event, Austria’s World Champion Wolfgang Kindl lost his lead in the standings and missed out on valuable points in the fight for the overall title.

In the doubles race, Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken continued their run of victories in Lake Placid, remaining unbeaten for seven races in a row at the two-time Olympic host track (1932 and 1980) and extending their lead in the overall standings with 525 points. The US pairing of Chris Mazder/Jayson Terdiman finished in second for their best result of the season. Third place went to the Canadians Tristan Walker/Justin Snith. Second and third place in the overall standings are held by Thomas Steu/Lorenz Koller (446) of Austria and Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (431) of Germany.