Preview 3rd EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Sochi - Luge elite the second week in Russia
Sochi (FIL) At the first of two EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cups in the Olympic city of Sochi, brothers Andris and Juris Sics from Latvia claimed the fifth World Cup victory of their career in the Doubles on Saturday, 27 November 2021. Anna Berreiter from Germany then convinced amidst the freak weather at the Sliding Center Sanki ahead of Kendija Aparjode (Latvia) and Viktoriia Demchenko (Russia). As on Saturday, it rained again on Sunday at an air temperature of eleven degrees. Johannes Ludwig and Felix Loch (both from Germany) convinced with mental strength with a double victory ahead of Russia's World champion Roman Repilov.
"It was not easy again because of the weather," explained Austria's head coach René Friedl. About the requirement in these conditions, German head coach Norbert Loch said: "It is mainly a mental question. You know exactly beforehand that you need two runs that are as flawless as possible and with a ranking in the midfield after the first run without too much gap to the leaders, you can still attack the top well from 15th to 20th place in the second run."
The final relay race was also affected by the weather conditions. The Austrian team, the outstanding winner in Yanqing, finished sixth, starting as the last quartett. The Russians Viktoriia Demchenko, Semen Pavlichenko as well as Andri Bogdanov and Iurii Prokhorov won. Germany (Anna Berreiter, Johannes Ludwig, Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt) came in second followed by Latvia (Kendija Aparjode, Kristers Aparjods, Andris Sics/Juris Sics).
Next weekend, 3 to 5 December 2021, the third EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup of the Olympic season will continue in Russia.
169 athletes, including 56 women, 53 men and 30 doubles, from 27 nations (ARG, AUS, AUT, BIH, BUL, CAN, CHN, CZE, GBR, GEO, GER, IRL, ITA, JPN, KOR, LAT, MDA, NED, POL, ROU, RUS, SUI, SVK, SWE, TPE, UKR, USA) are entered for Sochi.
For the first time in the history of Russian luge, two World Cups in a row will be held on the 2014 Olympic track in Sochi. The 49th FIL World Championships were last held in the Krasnodar Region on the Black Sea from 14 to 16 February 2020.
While there was an EBERSPÄCHER Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW at the second EBERSPÄCHER World Cup on Sunday, 28 November, the third EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup will end with the first BMW Sprint World Cup of the season on Sunday, 5 December in Sochi.
Quotes:
Sergey Chudinov, Head Coach RUS: "We hope the international teams feel comfortable here with us in Sochi and can enjoy our hospitality. It's nice for our team to be here. We had a very hard time in China. Our training always went late into the night. Sometimes we didn't get to the hotel until 1am. But what doesn't kill us makes us harder. Our goal is to remain one of the strongest teams internationally.
The first World Cup here in Sochi was a very well organised event. Except for the weather, everything was fine. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. We really hope it will be better on the second weekend."
Andris Sics, LAT: "We like the track in Sochi very much. We have been here before in autumn and tried new sleds and a new setup. That was an important experience. The Russian and German doubles were very strong in training. Now we'll see how it looks in the coming week“.
Juris Sics, LAT: "In official training we only had five runs before the race, but we are in good shape and luckily we have already been on the track in Sochi in autumn. The track here suits us very well, we proved that with our bronze medal at the 2014 Olympic Games. It's nice to have won a World Cup here now, we hope it continues to go so well for us in the coming week."
Anna Berreiter, GER: "Wearing the yellow bib of the World Cup leaders at the weekend is something special and I am really looking forward to it. But I don't let it put me under pressure, because we are still at the very beginning of the season and have only raced in two World Cups. It doesn't mean that much to wear this jersey yet. But I am happy to have one in my possession now and it will always remind me of last week's World Cup victory.
The weather forecast is similar to last week, but that can also change very quickly, and you shouldn't rely on it. Every week is different, you have to start with new energy and make good runs, so the weather is secondary. Just fast steels don't get you anywhere, you also have to luge properly. Of course we keep an eye on the weather for the set-up, but we are an outdoor sport and you have to take it as it comes. I just concentrate from week to week now and do my best."
Johannes Ludwig, GER: "That was a crazy race in the warm outdoor conditions last weekend in Sochi. That's when you can expect that you won't be able to get to the front in the first race with the back of the grid. But it's a good thing that in the second race we race with the positions in reverse order, so the whole thing turns around. In the second run I had a better starting number and I was able to use that very well with a good run. Nobody could get close to me. It was not to be my loss. It's difficult to get a flow into Sochi with only five training runs. But with me it got better from run to run and in the race I could improve again. It wasn't flawless yet, but I have a few more opportunities to improve next week. After the good start I am looking forward to next week here in Sochi. It can go on like this.
Rene Friedl, Head Coach and Sports Director, AUT: "It was not easy on the first weekend in Sochi because of the weather, but that should not be an excuse. Unfortunately, the trend has continued, we are having a hard time here and made too many small mistakes. The starting position in the relay was not optimal with the last bib number, the runs were okay, here we were certainly beaten a bit below value. In the men's race, David's performance should be highlighted positively, and the team result with four runners in the top 12 gives us hope. We now have the opportunity to work out the track even better in the coming days and know what to do."
Zeitplan Wettkämpfe / Competition schedule:
Ortszeit /local times Sotschi (CET / EST)
3rd EBERSAECHER Luge World Cup
Friday 03. December, 2021
09:00 Nationscup (CET 07:00am /EST 01:00)
14:30 Training seeded group (CET 12.30/EST 06.30am)
Saturday 04.12.2021
Eberspächer Luge World Cup
10:30 Doubles (CET 8:30am / EST 2:30am)
11:50 Doubles (CET 9:50am /EST 3:50am)
13:45 Men (CET 11:45 / EST 5:45am)
15:20 Men (CET 13:20 / EST 7:20am)
Sunday 05.12.2021
Eberspächer Luge World Cup
10:30 Women (CET 8:30am / EST 2:30am)
11:55 Women (CET 9:55 / EST 3:30)
BMW Sprint World Cup presented by BMW
13:30 Men (CET 11:30am / EST 5:30am)
14:15 Doubles (CET 12:15 / EST 6:15am)
14:50 Women (CET 12:50 / EST 6:50am)
