Demchenko capitalized on his home-advantage in 2011 /Surprise victories by Gough and Linger-Linger
Paramonovo (pps) In February 2011 it was not only the first Viessmann Luge World Cup that was carried out in Paramonovo – it was the first ever World Cup event of the International Luge Federation (FIL) to be hosted by Russia.
Interesting and quite surprising was the outcome of the races on Russia’s first artificially refrigerated track: Albert Demchenko – neither he nor the Russian team did compete in the World Cup last weekend in Sigulda – capitalized on his home-advantage last year to celebrate a victory ahead of Germany’s Felix Loch and Andi Langenhan.
But it was the young Canadian luger Alex Gough who provided the biggest surprise when she ended the winning series of 105 consecutive World Cup victories of Germany’s women lugers on February 12, 2011. She took the podium’s top spot in Paramonovo to claim the first of her two career World Cup victories. Germany’s Carina Schwab and Natalie Geisenberger finished in second and third positions, respectively. The team of Austrian brothers, Andreas and Wolfgang Linger, won the doubles ahead of Tobias Wendl-Tobias Arlt of Germany and Latvia’s Andris and Juris Sics.
