Natalie Maag, Chris Eissler and Walker / Snith win Nations Cup in Oberhof
Oberhof (FIL) Natalie Maag (SUI), Chris Eissler (GER) and Tristan Walker / Justin Snith (CAN) took the victories in the FIL Nations Cup on Friday, January 14, 2021 in Oberhof, Thuringia.
In the doubles' event, the Canadian duo Tristan Walker and Justin Snith again convinced with the fastest time at the 2022 Nations Cup, just like last year. In a time of 41.761 seconds, the two veterans from Calgary relegated local heroes Hannes Orlamünder and Paul Gubitz (+0.067) as well as Poland's Wojciech Chmielewski and Jakub Kowalewski (+0.099) to the other podium places. Tristan Walker was only cautiously pleased: "We don't intend to repeat last year's weekend. We won the Nations Cup and then crashed in the World Cup race. We definitely have to do better tomorrow". Walker/Snith are leading the overall FIL Nations Cup standings in the doubles ahead of next week's final Nations Cup at the Swiss winter sports resort of St. Moritz.
In the men's single Nations Cup, there was a German double success. Chris Eissler from Saxony won in 42.781 seconds from David Nössler from Thuringia (+0.286). Nössler will make his World Cup debut tomorrow in Oberhof. Arturs Darznieks from Latvia came in third (+0.309). Darznieks was in second place for a very long time, but was still waiting with trepidation for the German starters with the high starting numbers: "The race is not over until the last sled has crossed the finish line", the luger from Sigulda had said. "Unfortunately, I am not satisfied with my run at all. I had too many mistakes, I definitely want to do better this afternoon in the sprint and tomorrow in the World Cup." And so it happened, Nössler was still on the podium and Austrian Reinhard Egger (+0.376) still dropped from bronze to fifth behind Moritz Bollmann, who convinced with a new start record of 7.084.
The 24-year-old Swiss Natalie Maag was the fastest at the FIL Nations Cup in Oberhof in women singles with a track record time of 41.901 seconds. Tatyana Ivanova from Russia came in second, 33 thousandths of a second behind (+0.033), ahead of Cheyenne Rosenthal from Germany (+0.157). Natalie Maag calls Oberhof her "second home track". She already won the FIL Nations Cup on this track two years ago: "This time I have secured the track record, which makes me very happy. It will last at least until Sunday. Two years ago my family was here with me and I still think back very fondly to this victory. It is such a pity that we are not allowed to race with spectators here in Oberhof. But next week at home in Switzerland it will be possible. Spectators are allowed and I'm sure many of our families will come." Tatyana Ivanova is also happy about her second place, after her foot fracture at the World Cup opener in China: "The run wasn't very good at the Nations Cup and also at the start it doesn't really work well with my foot yet. I am just happy that I can luge again".
Diana Loginova (RUS), Chris Eissler (GER) and Walker/Snith (CAN) lead the overall standings ahead of the Nations Cup final on Friday, 21 January 2022 in St. Moritz.
Athletes qualify for the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup on Saturday and Sunday via the Nations Cup, which is run in one heat. The fastest twelve female and double athletes as well as the fastest 15 men of the last three World Cup races will start in the so-called seeded group. For them, there will be the seeded training on Friday, 15 January from 14.30 hrs (CET) as the last race before the World Cup. Natalie Maag, who sees Oberhof as her second home track, also won the Nations Cup two years ago.
Detailed results and further information on the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Oberhof, the Nations Cup and the trainings can be found here: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/eberspaecher-world-cup-14
The live streaming of the 8th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup on Saturday and Sunday in Oberhof will be broadcast on Olympic Channel, due to TV agreements geo-blocked in Germany (2nd runs and Team Relay), Latvia and the Russian Federation. Link to live streaming: https://olympics.com/en/sport-events/2022-luge-eberspacher-world-cup-oberhof/
Schedule 8th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup Oberhof:
Saturday, January 15th, 2022
09.30 hrs 1st run Men's singles
11.05 hrs 2nd run Men's singles
12.45 hrs 1. race Doubles / 1st run Doubles
14.05 hrs 2nd run Doubles / 2nd run Doubles
Sunday, January 16th, 2022
10.30 hrs 1st run Women
11.55 hrs 2nd run Women
13.50 hrs EBERSPÄCHER Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW
