Nations Cup victories for Hannah Prock, Aleksandr Gorbatcevich, and Denisev / Antonov in Winterberg

Winterberg (FIL) Hannah Prock (AUT), Aleksandr Gorbatcevich, (RUS) and Aleksandr Denisev / Vladislav Antonov (RUS) were the fastest at the FIL Nations Cup on Friday, December 18, 2020 in Winterberg, Sauerland.

In sunshine at the Veltins EisArena the 20-year-old Tyrolean Hannah Prock won in 56.386 seconds ahead of South Tyrolean Verena Hofer (ITA / +0.020) and Germany's Anna Berreiter (+0.062), who will compete in her season's ffirst World Cup in Winterberg. Hannah Prock said: "I am happy about the victory in the Nations Cup in Winterberg and about the lead in the overall ranking of the Nations Cup now, even if I lost some time in turn 11 during my run today. The track is really very good and today it was another second faster than in training."

In the men's race, Russia's Aleksandr Gorbatcevich won in 52.688 seconds, exactly one hundredth of a second ahead of Ukraine's Anton Dukach (+0.010) and his teammate Andriy Mandziy (+0.098). The 26-year-old sports instructor from St. Petersburg was happy about the victory: "The most important thing is of course the qualification for the World Cup on Sunday. But a victory in the Nations Cup is a great thing. I was the fastest in the qualification today and that makes me very happy." Anton Dukach was also beaming: "I was only one hundredth of a second short of victory. That's great, because it didn't go so well for me in training. Yesterday I worked really long on my sled and tried to get everything out of it. It was worth it", said the 25-year-old Ukrainian.

In the Nations Cup of the doubles the sprint World Champions Aleksandr Denisev and Vladislav Antonov from Russia were the fastest in 43.543 seconds. The winners of the previous week in Oberhof Wojciech Chmielewski and Jacub Kowalewski from Poland finished second (0.224) ahead of the fast Korean team with Jinyong Park and Jung Myung Cho (+0.402).

Through the Nations Cup, which is run in one heat, athletes qualify for the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup on Saturday and Sunday. 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, December 18 from 2:30 p.m. (CET) as the last run before the World Cup in the VELTINS EisArena in Winterberg.

Detailed results and further information about the fourth EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Winterberg, the Nations Cup results and the trainings can be found under the following link:
https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-weltcup-3