“Oberhof is my home track, St. Moritz my heart!”

St. Moritz (FIL/14 Dec 2023) Switzerland's Natalie Maag has been a lone competitor in the luge World Cup for years. The 25-year-old has been training in Oberhof for twelve years and has been traveling with the German national team as part of an international cooperation between Swiss Sliding and the BSD. She started luge at the age of nine and competed in her first World Cup race eight years later in Altenberg. At the 2020/21 World Cup in St. Moritz, she celebrated with a third place her first and so far only podium finish. We talked to her about the upcoming World Cup in her home country.

Natalie, you're having a great season, you've always been in the top 15, what's different?

Natalie Maag: “It's going really well this year. I have found my consistency again, which I lost a little bit in the last years. I just really enjoy racing again, it's fun, and then you can just let the sled run. When you are more relaxed in your mind, you attack, and then you are automatically faster and therefore more successful”.

Do you see St. Moritz as your home track or rather Oberhof, where you have been training with Julia Taubitz for twelve years?

Natalie Maag: “Oberhof is my home track, but St. Moritz is my heart! It's nice to be home for a week, even though it's not my home, of course. I love to race there. I'm as good on the sled there as anywhere else. Maybe it's also related to the fact that I know everyone there at the track. I enjoy every run, it's a dream and just wonderful”.

You also achieved your first World Cup podium there in the 2020/21 season. Does that make it even more special?

Natalie Maag: “Yes, I would never have thought that I would even be allowed to race a World Cup there. I was already very happy about the World Cup race there, and that it was a podium right away was of course an indescribable situation. It is the last natural ice track in the world, and I think as long as it is still standing, one has to go there. I think it's nice that we are there every year now. It's a pity for us ladies, though, that we're not allowed to compete from the very top. At the Sepp-Benz race last year, we even started from the men's start and not just the bobsleigh start. That gives you 140km/h top speed and you get through the Horse Shoe in a completely different way. I know there are always safety concerns, but in my opinion, the racing in the cold in Sigulda was much more challenging than here in St. Moritz”.

Who will be supporting you this week?

Natalie Maag: “My family will be there. They already cheered me on in Oberhof for the World Championships. Of course, friends will also come to support me. That makes it even more special, and I'm really looking forward to the whole week”.

Thank you very much for the interview!