New track records at Nations Cup: Summer Britcher, David Gleirscher and Walker / Snith win in Oberhof

Oberhof (FIL) Summer Britcher (USA), David Gleirscher (AUT) and Tristan Walker / Justin Snith (CAN) took the victories in the FIL Nations Cup on Friday, January 15, 2021 in Oberhof, Thuringia.

In the doubles' event, Robin Geueke and David Gamm from Germany’s Winterberg first set a new track record with 41.221 seconds, which was then beaten by Canada's Tristan Walker and Justin Smith by eleven hundredths of a second shortly afterwards. The winning time 41.108 seconds of the two Canadians stands for now safely until tomorrow as a record time. Tristan Walker was satisfied: "It feels good to be back and to break a track record. Of course, the track and ice is probably currently in better conditions than last time when the track record was set by Eggert/Benecken. So let's wait for the result at the end of the weekend." And Justin Snith reports, "We got a new sled because we had some problems in Königssee. We feel comfortable on it and that's the most important thing for us right now!"
Slovakia's Tomas Vavercak and Matej Zmij (+0.223) slided to third place, with U.S.' Chris Mazdzer and Jayson Terdiman (+0.351) fourth. U.S. head coach Robert Fegg joked afterward, "Chris put his feet on the ice in the „Kreisel“ to slow down a bit so he could qualify for the World Cup in doubles but not have to go to the awards ceremony and quickly get back up to the start for the next discipline."

2018 Winter Olympics silver medalist Chris Mazdzer rejoined the single's race 20 minutes later with bib number 3 and finished fifth. Olympic champion David Gleirscher of Tyrol won in 43.111 seconds, beating Felix Loch's track record by 18 hundredths of a second. "The track record today is quite nice and it will definitely stand until tomorrow. That gives me a good feeling, because tomorrow we have to attack. The competition will be different and it will certainly be an exciting race. I'm looking forward to it," said the Olympic champion from Austria. The winner of the Youth Olympic Games 2020, Gints Berzins from Latvia, luged on the second rank (+0.053) and stayed also under the old track record. Reinhard Egger (AUT) finished third (+0.180).

The 26-year-old Summer Britcher from Glen Rock in the USA took the Nations Cup victory in the women's track record time of 41.402 seconds. Second was her teammate, 21-year-old Ashley Farquharson from Park City, (+0.139) ahead of 20-year-old Tyrolean Hannah Prock (+0.157).

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, January 15 from 14:30 (CET) as the last run before the World Cup.

Summer Britcher, David Gleirscher and Walker/Snith are now the holders of the new track records in Oberhof. This will definitely hold until the World Cup races on Saturday and Sunday, and the wintry weather conditions in Oberhof mean that exciting and fast World Cup races can be expected.
Detailed results and further information about the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Oberhof, the Nations Cup and the trainings can be found here:
https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-weltcup-6