Olympic champion Taubitz takes World Cup lead after victory in St. Moritz

8th EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup St. Moritz

St. Moritz (FIL/28 Feb 2026) What a crazy race in the EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup in St. Moritz for the women. Olympic champion Julia Taubitz secured her 32nd World Cup victory with the fastest run of the day (53.864 seconds) in the second heat. After the first run, the German was still in fifth place. “The first run was pretty annoying after the Horseshoe,” she said, “but I was able to catch up relatively quickly.” Her total time was 1:48.144 minutes. This put the German, who celebrates her 30th birthday on Sunday (March 1), back in the lead in the overall World Cup standings. She has 549 points, followed by her teammate Merle Fräbel in second place (530) and the previous leader Lisa Schulte (Austria/498). The American Summer Britcher (440) is out of the race.

Sandra Robatscher was in the lead after the first run. But instead of securing her second World Cup victory, the Italian fell back to fourth place after the sixth-fastest time, 0.238 seconds behind Taubitz. Fräbel finished second (0.121 seconds behind). She also had problems. “After the Martino, the sled pulled to the left and started skiding,” she explained, “I don't know why.” Robatscher was also overtaken by her teammate Verena Hofer. “I'm very happy with third place,” she said, “it's just annoying that I always got through the Horseshoe well in training, but not today of all days.” She was 0.225 seconds behind. After the award ceremony, she felt a little sorry for Robatscher: “I feel sorry for Sandra, she had a really great first run and deserved to win.”

Behind Robatscher, Dorothea Schwarz (Austria/0.290) came in fifth ahead of Switzerland's Natalie Maag (0.482). Because Summer Britcher was the only member of the US team still in contention in the overall standings, she competed in St. Moritz. However, with a deficit of 0.709 seconds, she could only manage seventh place.

Lisa Schulte had two completely botched runs. She was 1.155 seconds behind Taubitz in eleventh place. Her teammate Hannah Prock, who also still had a chance of winning the crystal globe, had to withdraw from the race in St. Moritz. She had undergone an appendectomy on Thursday.