Natalie Geisenberger, Ludwig and Eggert-Benecken head the field

Sigulda (RWH) The snow flurries in Königssee upset the running order and caused extra excitement in the Viessmann Luge World Cup. In the men’s event, Lady Luck shone on Austria’s Reinhard Egger, who took his first World Cup win. Julia Taubitz took advantage of the conditions and the timing of the track sweep to clinch her second win of the post-Olympic winter. The snowfall also helped Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken to put an end to the winning streak of local heroes Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt.

The field has bunched up in the overall classification, particularly in the men’s event, ahead of the sixth Viessmann Luge World Cup of the season in Sigulda, Latvia, this coming weekend (January 12-13, 2019). After seven of 12 events, Germany’s Johannes Ludwig retains his lead with 441 points. Russia’s Roman Repilov has now moved up to second (413). Austrian World Champion Wolfgang Kindl lies third overall (404). Felix Loch (GER / 398) and Reinhard Egger (AUT / 389) are both still within striking distance in fourth and fifth respectively. Even Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller (373) is still in with a chance of taking a top spot.

In the women’s event, Julia Taubitz, the 2016 Junior World Champion who missed the 2018 Olympics, has closed the gap to leader Natalie Geisenberger (612). She currently has 595 points. Summer Britcher (USA) has moved up into third place on 415 points, some distance behind the leaders.

The situation in the doubles is much more clear-cut. Despite sustaining an open fibula fracture in mid-October, Toni Eggert still leads the overall standings with his partner Sascha Benecken on 625 points ahead of Thomas Steu/Lorenz Koller (AUT) and Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (GER). However, both duos are already 109 points behind the leaders.

The German squad leads the Viessmann Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW with 285 points. They are followed by the teams from Russia (215 points) and the USA (205).