LAAS/LASA. On Sunday, February 4th 2018, the 11th FIL Junior World Championships on Luge on Natural Track in Laas/Lasa (ITA) officially came to an end. As the Junior World Champions of the doubles were already determined on the day before, it was now the turn of the women and the men.

At the women’s event, the Italian team celebrated a triple victory. In the end, Alexandra Pfattner was able to win the gold medal: She delivered the best runtimes in all three legs and therefore managed to keep her teammates Nadine Staffler and Christa Unterholzner at bay.

“It has been my primary goal to win the Junior World Championships, and we’ve worked very hard for it. This victory is the highlight of the season for me,” Pfattner was happy after the race. Since the Italian had also triumphed at the Junior European Championships last year, she is now the reigning European and World Champion of the Juniors. Runner-up in Laas/Lasa was Nadine Staffler, who had been 67 hundredths slower than Pfattner, nevertheless she was satisfied with her performance: “I wanted to demonstrate my skills here on my home track. Now I’m very happy that everything turned out so well for me and that I was able get on the podium,” said the local hero, who had only recently won the overall Junior World Cup and therefore can look back on a successful season. This also applies to Christa Unterholzner, who had been runner-up to Staffler in the overall rankings of the Junior World Cup and was awarded the bronze medal in Laas/Lasa. “I’m entirely satisfied with the outcome of the race. We have such a strong team, I’m happy I had the chance to participate and that I was able to reach the podium” Unterholzner said.

The event of the men could not have been more thrilling: After the second of three legs, the Austrians Florian Markt and Fabian Achenrainer shared the first rank, and until the very last intermediate time, it seemed that Markt was able to win the battle against his teammate. But then, not far from the finishing line, Markt made a mistake, and so Achenrainer, who had also triumphed at the doubles’ event, claimed his second gold medal of this Junior World Championships. “That was the cherry on the cake. Words fail me right now,” said the newly crowned double World Champion, who had not expected to win after he had finished his final run: “I feared that it would not be enough. Now, however, I’m of course more than relieved.” For obvious reasons, Markt was not quite as happy as his teammate: “I’ve made a little mistake in the penultimate turn. That’s where I lost the race,” said the silver medal winner, who had a gap of 13 hundredths to Achenrainer in the end. The bronze medal of the men’s event was awarded to Laurin Jakob Kompatscher (ITA), who had ranked only fourth before the final run. “I had nothing to lose, so I felt pretty relaxed. Happily, everything turned out well for me,” said the Italian.

Results:
http://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/11th-fil-junioren-world-championships-on-luge-on-natur-track