Olympic Champion Natalie Geisenberger clinches 32nd World Cup victory

Calgary (RWH)   Olympic gold medallist Natalie Geisenberger still has what it takes to win. At the fifth attempt, the two-time World Champion from Germany took her first victory of the season at the fourth Viessmann World Cup in Calgary, Canada. The 27-year-old clinched the 32nd World Cup win of her career to push American Erin Hamlin into second place by 0.012 seconds on the 1988 Olympic track. Hamlin, the 2009 World Champion and 2014 Olympic bronze medallist, had held a slender lead of four thousandths of a second after the first run.

One week after her two wins in Park City, Summer Britcher (USA) came third at Canada Olympic Park (COP). Tatiana Ivanova of Russia, only ninth after the first run, set a new track record of 46.525 seconds on her second run to move up to fourth place. The old track record (46.543 seconds) had been set by two-time Olympic Champion Sylke Otto from Germany on December 9, 2005.

Natalie Geisenberger is the fourth name to be added to the list of winners of the Viessmann World Cup 2015/2016. The winners of the previous rounds were Dajana Eitberger (GER) in Innsbruck, Erin Hamlin in Lake Placid, and Summer Britcher (USA) in Park City.

Erin Hamlin has now taken the lead in the overall Viessmann World Cup standings on 401 points. Summer Britcher is now second, just six points behind (395). Defending champion Natalie Geisenberger lies third on 365 points.

The Viessmann World Cup will take a Christmas break following the BMW Sprint World Cup on Saturday (December 19, 2015) in Calgary. The 5th Viessmann World Cup will be held on January 9-10, 2016 in Sigulda, Latvia, which hosted the 45th International Luge Federation (FIL) World Championships in 2015.

Quotes

Natalie Geisenberger (GER / Olympic Champion 2014 and World Champion 2013 and 2015)

“Of course it’s a huge relief, but I was so motivated after the last few weeks. To be honest, I’m really surprised how strong the Americans are everywhere. I think competition is good for the sport, especially if it ends well for me like it has today!”

Erin Hamlin (USA / 2014 Olympic bronze medallist and World Champion in 2009)

“The World Cup leader’s jersey would be a nice Christmas present, but there’s still one race to go. I made a bunch of mistakes on both runs, and the top part of my second run was pretty bad. After that I was hoping just to make the podium at all.”

Summer Britcher (USA / YOG gold 2012 with the US relay team, silver in 2015 at the U23 World Championships)

“I’m really, really happy. It didn’t go so well for me here last year, so I’m delighted to have made such an improvement. “One more race, then we have a well-earned Christmas break.”