Natalie Geisenberger secures overall World Cup victory ahead of season finale

Lillehammer (RWH) US luger Summer Britcher has won the BMW Sprint World Cup in Lillehammer, Norway, with Natalie Geisenberger claiming third to secure her sixth successive overall victory in the Viessmann World Cup. Germany’s Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken, who lead the doubles standings, were not quite so fortunate as they crashed out of the race. As a result, Peter Penz/Georg Fischler (AUT) finished on the top step of the podium for the first time in five years. Russia’s Semen Pavlichenko took victory in the men’s BMW Sprint World Cup.

Following her success in the Olympic singles discipline, Summer Britcher also won the women’s BMW Sprint World Cup. On the track which hosted the 1984 Olympics, the US luger relegated Russia’s Viktoria Demchenko and Olympic gold medallist Natalie Geisenberger (GER) into second and third respectively.

Natalie Geisenberger goes into next weekend’s season finale in Sigulda, Latvia, with a lead of more than 200 points in the overall standings and so cannot be caught in the final two races – the Viessmann World Cup and the BMW Sprint World Cup. Record-breaking World Champion Tatjana Hüfner is second in the overall classification on 679 points, ahead of Summer Britcher (USA) on 646 points.

The Tyrolean pairing of Peter Penz/Georg Fischler made it onto the top step of the podium for the first time since the 2012/2013 season, when they took victory in Paramonovo, Russia. This time Penz/Fischler clinched victory ahead of the Olympic Champions Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt and the US duo of Matt Mortensen/Jayson Terdiman. Eggert/Benecken retain their lead in the overall World Cup standings on 970 points, ahead of Wendl/Arlt on 807 points and Penz/Fischler (731).

Semen Pavlichenko won the men’s race, while second and third went to Wolfgang Kindl (AUT) and Dominik Fischnaller (ITA) respectively. Felix Loch remains atop the World Cup rankings on 768 points, having finished eighth in the Sprint. Wolfgang Kindl is currently second (723) ahead of Pavlichenko (647).

The season finales of the Viessmann World Cup, the Viessmann Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW, and the BMW Sprint World Cup are all on the itinerary next weekend in Sigulda. The 49th European Championships of the International Luge Federation (FIL) will also be decided on the artificial ice track in Latvia.