Olympic squads selected – attention turns to battle for overall World Cup victory

Lillehammer (RWH) The Olympic line-ups are now complete. After Germany, the USA and Canada had selected their lugers, Italy, Austria and Latvia have now followed suit and announced their squads for the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, from February 9-15, 2018.

Ahead of the penultimate Viessmann World Cup of the season in the Norwegian town of Lillehammer next weekend (January 20-21, 2018), the only outstanding decisions now relate to the third place in the Austrian team and the nomination of the team of independent athletes for Russia. All eyes will be on the 1994 Olympic city as the battle for the Joska Crystal Cups for the overall winner of the individual luge events looks set to intensify.

Natalie Geisenberger, Felix Loch and Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken (all GER) currently lead the standings as the luge circus moves to Lillehammer, which hosted the 2nd Youth Olympic Games in 2016. Geisenberger, the 2014 Olympic Champion, currently has 795 points, giving her a comfortable lead over her teammate Dajana Eitberger on 618 points. The current World Champions Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken currently have a healthy 218-point cushion over the chasing pack led by Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (GER). And Felix Loch has a 103-point advantage over World Champion Wolfgang Kindl (AUT).

There are now just four events remaining before the season finale. As in Lillehammer, the following weekend’s event in Sigulda will also feature the Olympic luge disciplines along with one men’s, women’s and doubles race in the BMW Sprint World Cup. Sigulda will also host the finale of the Viessmann Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW.