Preview 4th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup, Sigulda (LAT): 
Sporty start into the new year with double World Cup in Sigulda

Sigulda (FIL/04 Jan 2023) After the return from overseas and the well-deserved Christmas holidays, the best luge athletes of the world will start the new year in a sporty way this weekend. The 4th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup will be held in Sigulda, Latvia, from January 6 to 8, 2023. The team around OC President Klāvs Vasks welcomes the luge elite to a double World Cup, because also one week later the World Cup and the simultaneously held 54th FIL European Championships will take place on the challenging Luge Track Sigulda. 

134 athletes from 19 nations will start in Latvia. 36 men's and women's singles as well as nine women's and 22 men's doubles have registered. In addition to the World Cup races, the second of six Team Relays as part of the EBERSPÄCHER Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW is on the program on Sunday. 

Taubitz, Fischnaller, Vötter/Oberhofer and Eggert/Benecken lead in the overall World Cup

The World Cup races in Innsbruck (ATU), Whistler (CAN) and Park City (USA) so far have shown that it will be an exciting World Cup season. After five of twelve World Cup races, it is worth taking a first look at the overall World Cup standings. Julia Taubitz and doubles' Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken (all Germany) as well as Italy's Dominik Fischnaller and women's doubles' Andrea Vötter/Marion Oberhofer lead the World Cup standings at the beginning of the year. 

Especially Vötter/Oberhofer can be more than satisfied with their start of the season. Both are racing their first season together in the women's doubles and besides Julia Taubitz they were the only ones to stand on the podium in every race so far, in Whistler and Park City even on top. In the women's event, Austria's Madeleine Egle had to let Julia Taubitz pass after three wins in a row. Last year's overall World Cup winner already has one second and three third places to her credit this season, in addition to the Park City sprint victory. 
In men's singles Dominik Fischnaller has moved to the top of the ranking with his two wins from Park City, closely followed by Austrians Wolfgang Kindl and David Gleirscher and Felix Loch (GER). In men's doubles Eggert/Benecken will go into the races in Sigulda as overall World Cup leaders ahead of Gatt/Schöpf (AUT) and their teammates Wendl/Arlt. 

Quotes before 4th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Sigulda (LAT):

Daniels Fogelis, Team Manager and Coach Latvia: “After five training-free Christmas holidays, so that the athletes could recover a little and clear their heads from luge, we started training from December 26 on the track in Sigulda and were glad to be back on our home track. It was a few intense days of training and working on the technique. Everything looks good and the track quality is excellent. We did some material testing and already during the Latvian Cup we tried to find the best setup for the European Championships next week in Sigulda. 
As for the track, I don't think there is a specific corner or spot that is the key to success, it's all about how you put the whole run together. The track is not easy, and athletes have to work hard to find the optimal or perfect line. The most important thing is not to make any big mistakes, otherwise there will be a chain reaction of mistakes. Of course, our expectations for the races in Sigulda are especially high, and we hope that we can fulfill them here in front of our home crowd.”

Norbert Loch, head coach Germany: “Between Christmas and New Year we were in Oberhof for the German Championships. After that, we went to Sigulda on January 2. The interesting thing this season is that we are racing a double World Cup with European Championships in Latvia. That alone is a challenge for all of us. 
I hope that we can continue the improving form of the last weeks. Our training runs in Oberhof were certainly a good preparation for Sigulda, because there are also some pressure curves to master. Here I think especially of the curves 13 and 15, to name the key spots right away. Especially the area of turns 12 to 14 has to be well mastered in order to be able to drive fast in Sigulda. The track is always in a very good condition, therefore we are already looking forward to the races. We are guaranteed to have a nice and well organized double World Cup in Latvia, we are well prepared and looking forward to it.”

Christian Eigentler, Head Coach Austria: “We used the time after overseas and over Christmas to work athletically. Some of us were a bit down due to injury or health issues. I hope that everyone will be fit again for the new year. We didn't do any luge during the Christmas break, but we traveled to Sigulda already on December 29 to use a few training runs before the official World Cup training to adjust specifically to the track. 
Sigulda is a completely different challenge. There it is important to have a lot of runs and to be able to adjust well to the whole thing. The technical demand is higher in Sigulda than it was on the last tracks. But we have seen so far that every track has its pitfalls and challenges. We are already looking forward to the new challenges and will of course try again to fight for the podium places in all disciplines. That is our goal.”
 
 
 

Schedule & TV coverage
Local start time (=CET/MEZ)

Freitag, 06. 01 2023
09:00 (08:00) FIL Nationscup 
14:30 (13:30) Training seeded group 

Saturday, 07. 01. 2023
10:10 (09:10) Women, 1st run 
11:35 (10:35) Women, 2nd run 
13:00 (12:00) Men’s doubles, 1st run 
13:45 (12:45) Women’s doubles, 1st run 
14:30 (13:30) Men’s doubles, 2nd run 
15:15 (14:55) Women’s doubles, 2nd run 

Sunday, 08. 01. 2023
10:00 (09:00) Men, 1st run 
11:25 (10:25) Men, 2nd run 
13:20 (12:20) Team-Relay

Subject to change without notice!

Link for Live TV coverage and FIL-Media Guide – information to all athletes: 
https://www.fil-luge.org/de/multimedia