Preview 3rd EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup & 12. American-Pacific Championships, Park City (USA): First FIL World Cup races after six years
Park City, USA (FIL/13 Dec 2022) From Whistler, Canada, the World Cup squad moves on to Park City, USA, where the third EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup of the 45th FIL World Cup season 2022/23 will be taking place from December 15-17.
The 2002 Olympic track near Salt Lake City last presented a luge World Cup in 2016. It was mostly Lake Placid that won the bid to host World Cup races in the U.S. before the Corona pandemic, so Junior World Cups and continental competitions have been held at the Utah track in recent years. Most recently, travel and entry restrictions and health requirements during the Covid 19 pandemic caused overseas races to be relocated to Europe. This weekend, the FIL World Cup returns to Park City after six years. In addition to the World Cup races, the 12th American-Pacific Championships will be held in race-in-race mode on December 16 and 17. In addition, the second of three Sprint World Cups is scheduled for Saturday.
50th World Cup victory of Felix Loch
The previous weekend at the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Whistler, Canada, was all about Felix Loch's 50th World Cup victory. Of all places, on the track where the 33-year-old German claimed his first Olympic victory in 2010, he celebrated this special anniversary and is now heading for the 57 World Cup victories with which Italy's team captain Armin Zoeggeler tops the eternal ranking list.
Madeleine Egle, who claimed her third win in a row, made a perfect start to the season. In the women's doubles, Italy's Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer were brilliant. Both have been on the sled together only since this season and took their first World Cup victory after finishing third in Innsbruck. In the men's doubles, Eggert/Benecken celebrated a successful revenge with their 52nd World Cup victory and Wendl/Arlt in second place. The German team also won the first team relay of the season.
Premiere of FIL Studio live was a great success
As a supplement to the linear TV broadcasts, the FIL launched a digital offensive in the field of sports coverage during the race weekend in Whistler. For the first time, live streaming was broadcasted via the FIL YouTube channel and, in addition, a second channel was set up with “FIL Studio live” on which background information, analyses, interviews and much more could be seen in English. The premiere of “FIL Studio live” was a great success. “I was very nervous, but it was great fun. The Live Studio is a great chance to explain our sport and bring it even closer to the audience with interviews at the start or finish line,” said Kate Hansen, former Olympian of the U.S. National Team and the face of FIL Studio.
Park City, Utah named in TIME's Top 50 Travel Destinations for 2022
After a two-year break due to the pandemic, the global travel fever is back in 2022. Reason enough for the renowned TIME magazine to publish a top 50 list of the “World's Greatest Places”, i.e. the places you should visit in 2022. From the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to the high-tech city of Seoul, all places have one thing in common: they are changing and offering new exciting experiences to their visitors. Park City (Utah) also made it into the top 50. The historic silver mining town in the heart of the Wasatch Mountains is considered a haven for outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers. While Park City is best known to the general public for hosting the annual Sundance Film Festival and for being a charming ski town, in Sliding, however, Park City represents the Utah Olympic Park, which hosted bobsleigh, skeleton, luge, ski jumping and Nordic combined during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. Many exhibits used during the Games are still on display at the George Eccles Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum, such as Olympic medals, ceremonial costumes, pins and other memorabilia. Detailed information on the TIME Top 50 travel destinations can be found here: https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places-2022/
Quotes:
Chris Mazdzer (USA): „If you have an afternoon free during your trip out here to Utah, I highly recommend visiting Park City Downtown. Head to Main Street; there are over 100 shops, 50 restaurants. You will find something for the entire family that is unique and very Utah! There is also a ski lift that heads right up the mountain, directly from downtown.
If you have more than just an afternoon, I would highly recommend going out, renting some skiers or a snowboard for checking out the mountains. If you are looking for a serious adventure and some pretty extreme skiing, head down into Salt Lake and head to Big Cottonwood or Little Cottonwood Canyon. Not only the mountains there are beautiful, but also the skiing at Snowbird, Alta, Brighton and Solitude is incredible. While you are down at Salt Lake Valley, check out Temple Square. There is so much to do out here in Utah. I hope you come here to visit and, most of all, have an amazing time.”
Summer Britcher (USA): “I wish we could’ve put together a cleaner run, but that’s racing. It’s good to know the speed is there and I’m excited to move on and get on the ice in Park City.”
Daniels Fogelis, Team Manager (LAT): „I am happy that my athletes could finish the world cup at Whistler with three good runs in the team relay. It gives us more confidence for the next race. However, Park City will be interesting for my team. All of them are newcomer to the track. We do not have any experience there, but I am sure we will do a good job there.”
Felix Loch: “We haven't been to Park City in six years. It's funny because few of the current World Cup contenders have ever been to Park City. So it will definitely be an interesting race again this week. The first three curves are called A, B, C, after which it goes into curve 2. These are the most difficult curves for us men. That has to fit exactly. I'm really looking forward to it because I really enjoy sliding there. I hope that things will go as well as they did in Whistler and that I can get back on the podium.”
Dajana Eitberger (GER): “I'm really looking forward to Park City. The track was one of my favorite tracks until a few years ago. I hope that I can quickly find that cozy feeling there again and then we'll see how far I can get this time.”
Julia Taubitz (GER): “Things went pretty well for me in Whistler. I'm slowly working my way up the podium. The runs could have been better. My goal is always to have the best runs of the week for the competitions. It didn’t work out, but that's okay, because I am progressing step by step. It's been seven years since I was last in Park City, so it's like a new track for me too. However, the track suited me quite well.”
Selina Egle (AUT): “I've never been to Park City before, so I'm just taking it slowly now. The week in Whistler was already very stressful. We raced very badly in training and didn't get turn 16 right in the race neither. Therefore, it's even nicer that we kept the World Cup lead with the 2nd place. I did not expect that. Now we are looking forward to Park City and the new experiences.”
Schedule & TV coverage
Local start time (=CET/MEZ)
Thursday, 15. 12. 2022
09:00 (17:00) FIL Nations cup
14:30 (22:30) Training seeded group
Friday, 16. 12. 2022
14:00 (22:00) Men’s Doubles, 1st run
14:45 (22:45) Women’s Doubles, 1st run
15:30 (23:30) Men’s Doubles, 2nd run
16:15 (00:15) Women’s Doubles, 2nd run
17:10 (01:10) Men, 1st run
18:35 (02:35) Men, 2nd run
Saturday, 17. 12. 2022
11:00 (19:00) Women, 1st run
12:25 (20:25) Women, 2nd run
13:55 (21:55) Sprint World Cup Men
14:45 (22:45) Sprint World Cup Men’s Doubles
15:10 (23:10) Sprint World Cup Women’s Doubles
15:35 (23:35) Sprint World Cup Women
Subject to change without notice!
Link for Live TV coverage and FIL-Media Guide – information to all athletes:
