Nations Cup victories for Dajana Eitberger, Riks Rozitis and Geueke/Gamm in Winterberg

Winterberg (FIL) Dajana Eitberger (GER), Riks Rozitis (LAT) and Robin Geueke / David Gamm (GER) were the fastest at the FIL Nations Cup on New Year's Eve, Friday, 31 December 2021 in Winterberg, Sauerland.

In dry weather but very warm temperatures in the Veltins EisArena, 30-year-old Olympic silver medallist of PyeongChang 2018 Dajana Eitberger won in 56.981 seconds ahead of 26-year-old Russian Viktoriia Demchenko (+0.059) and 22-year-old US-American Ashley Farquharson (+0.085). Dajana Eitberger was satisfied: "I am happy to be back, even though I am still sleeping a lot and have to get completely fit again first. On Sunday at the World Cup we will see how the conditions are and what is possible. I'm taking it easy. You can't force anything anyway". Dajana Eitberger celebrated her comeback after the Covid-19 infection, which forced her to take a break at the 5th EBERSPÄCHER World Cup in Innsbruck before Christmas.

In the men's race, Latvian Riks Rozitis won in 52.892 seconds, only two thousandths of a second ahead of South Tyrolean Leon Felderer (+0.002) and Rozitis' teammate Arturs Darznieks (+0.011) in third place.
The 27-year-old luger from Sigulda was not satisfied with his run, but was happy about the narrow victory: "The most important thing is of course the qualification for the World Cup. Tomorrow it will be better, I start optimistically into the new year!" Leon Felderer, who has had a very stable season so far, was still a bit worried about qualifying for the Olympics: "I hope it will work out, but we have to wait until the next World Cup in Sigulda because of the quota places. The criteria for the Olympic qualification have been changed. But I am very positive and hope to be there," said the 21-year-old South Tyrolean.

In the doubles' Nations Cup, the local heroes, 2017 World Championships bronze medallists Robin Geueke and David Gamm from Winterberg, were the fastest in 43.869 seconds. The Americans Chris Mazdzer / Jayson Terdiman (+0.013) finished second. Chris Mazdzer had finished fifth in the singles and was happy about this result: "In the singles it went better today. In doubles I gave Jayson the start. I agreed with Jayson that we would do four paddles and then only did three myself. That was not good. But it's good to have made the mistakes today and our form curve in doubles is rising, so I have a good feeling for the World Cup races tomorrow." Canada's Tristan Walker / Justin Snith (+0.068) finished third. Robin Geueke said after the race in the World Cup press conference at the VELTINS EisArena Winterberg: "It finally went really well again today at the Nations Cup and we are confident for tomorrow."

Athletes qualify for the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup on Saturday and Sunday via the Nations Cup, which is always run in one heat on Friday morning. The fastest twelve female and double athletes as well as the fastest 15 men of the last three World Cup races are seeded and do not have to go to the Nations Cup for qualification. For them, there will be the seeded training on Friday, 31 December from 2.30 p.m. (CET) as the last run before the World Cup in the VELTINS EisArena in Winterberg. On New Year's Day from 10 a.m. the World Cup will start with the two runs of the doubles. The men's single-seater will follow at 12.30 pm. The women's and the EBERSPÄCHER Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW will be held on Sunday, 2 January 2021.

Detailed results and further information on the 6th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup of the 2021/22 season in Winterberg, the Nations Cup and the training sessions can be found at the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/eberspaecher-world-cup-12