Luge athletes start into the Olympic year 2022 in Sauerland / Ice track in Winterberg with a great luge tradition

Winterberg (FIL) Right on New Year's Day 2022, on January 1 and 2, the first EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup of the Olympic year will take place in Winterberg in Sauerland, Germany. 

Originally, the New Year's World Cup was to be held in Bavaria. Following the extensive storm damage on 17 July 2021 to the ice arena at Königssee in Bavaria, the 6th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup on 1 and 2 January 2022 had to be cancelled. Following a decision by the Executive Board of the International Luge Federation, FIL, Winterberg was selected to stand in for Königssee (both Germany). The ice track at the Kappe in Winterberg has a long luge tradition. 30 luge World Cups have already been held on the artificial track in North Rhine-Westphalia. FIL World Championships have already taken place three times. 
166 athletes from 27 nations (54 women's singles, 54 men's singles and 29 doubles) will compete for World Cup points and Olympic qualification. After the two World Cups in Winterberg (GER) and Sigulda (LAT) the Olympic athletes for Beijing 2022 will be nominated. 

All athletes and coaches who arrived in Winterberg on Monday, 27 December showed a negative result at the international Covid-19 test of the FIL in Winterberg on Monday. Before the departure from the Christmas break, also national tests of the individual teams were carried out for safety reasons. 
From Wednesday, 29 December 2020, the official training runs for the World Cup races at the weekend in Winterberg will start. On Friday, 31 December, the FIL Nations Cup will take place from 9 a.m. as a qualification race for the World Cup weekend. The fastest athletes of the last three World Cups are pre-nominated for participation in the World Cup races. 

After the 5th EBERSPÄCHER World Cup in Innsbruck, where 300 spectators were permitted under hygiene regulations, there will again be no spectators in Winterberg on 1 and 2 January 2022. According to the decision of the Conference of Minister Presidents with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, supra-regional sporting events in Germany may only be held without spectators for the time being.

Luge athletes of the Austrian Luge Federation (ÖRV) recently the measure of all things

After the triple for the ÖRV team at the fourth EBERSPÄCHER World Cup in Altenberg (GER), where Madeleine Egle, Thomas Steu/Lorenz Koller and Wolfgang Kindl were victorious, there were even seven podium places at the fifth weekend of the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup in Innsbruck (AUT) - three first, three second and one third place. Thus the last World Cup before the short Christmas break was not only the home game of the Austrian team, it also developed into red-white-red luge festivities. There were podium finishes in all competitions, both for the men, the women and the doubles, as well as in all three sprint races. 

Taubitz, Loch and Wendl/Arlt the last World Cup winners in Winterberg

Last winter, the 4th season's World Cup was held in Winterberg on 19 and 20 December 2020. Felix Loch celebrated the fifth victory in the fifth race at that time. Austria's Nico Gleirscher followed in second place ahead of South Tyrolean Dominik Fischnaller. This year, three-time Olympic champion Loch wants to celebrate his comeback in Winterberg after the involuntary Corona break. At the last World Cup before Christmas in Innsbruck, the 32-year-old Bavarian had to take a break due to a positive Covid-19 test before his arrival. Head coach Norbert Loch confirmed: "Felix had no symptoms, he was fine and he is out of quarantine again. Now we have to see how it goes in Winterberg". Team-mate Dajana Eitberger, Olympic silver medallist in PyeongChang, also will compete again in Winterberg after a forced Covid break. In the women's singles, Julia Taubitz secured the tenth World Cup victory of her career in Winterberg last year, ahead of Olympic champion Natalie Geisenberger (both GER) and Latvia's Eliza Tiruma. The Olympic doubles' champions also have good memories of the last World Cup in Winterberg. Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt won their 45th World Cup in the VELTINS EisArena a year ago. Their team-mates, the later overall World Cup winners Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken came in second and the current leaders in the overall World Cup Andris and Juris Sics from Latvia finished third in Winterberg a year ago.

Large and small crystal globe in the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup

The large crystal globe is awarded by the International Luge Federation FIL for the victory in the EBERSPÄCHER overall World Cup ranking of all 13 races. The winner in the disciplines women's single-seater, men's single-seater and double-seater is the one who achieves the most World Cup points from the classic EBERSPÄCHER World Cup (9 races) and the BMW Sprint World Cup (4 races). 
In addition, there will be a small crystal globe for each of the overall discipline winners of the classic EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup (9 competitions) and the BMW Sprint World Cup (4 competitions). 

The current overall World Cup standings are available at the following link:
https://www.fil-luge.org/en/overall-scores?event_season_id=29

Quotes before the 6th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup:

René Friedl, Head Coach and Sports Director Austria: "We want to build on the performances of Igls and Altenberg next weekend in Winterberg. Unfortunately, we were not in Winterberg during the preparation. We are approaching this World Cup with full attention. We are well positioned in all three disciplines. Two men's singles, one women's singles and one doubles have already been pre-nominated by us for Beijing 2022. The others will still fight for results and points for the qualification in Winterberg and Sigulda. The organisers in Winterberg are doing their best to organise a good World Cup under the currently very difficult conditions. We are already looking forward to the first rides and we hope for good weather at the races".

Norbert Loch, Head Coach GER: "First of all, I am happy that everyone can arrive in Winterberg healthy and recovered from the Christmas days. While Felix has already done a few training runs in Oberhof, Dajana will use the additional training in Winterberg to get fit again in the track after the quarantine break. For the World Cup weekend, I expect my athletes to be more stable in competition, to show good runs and to luge as cleanly as possible. I would like to see really good runs, I was a bit dissatisfied in the last two or three World Cup races because the stability was not there, with the exception of Hansi Ludwig".

Sergey Chudinov, Head Coach Russian Federation: "We were home for six days and that was like a balm for our souls. Everyone is in a good mood now and we are excited about the World Cup races in Winterberg. We expect very interesting competitions in all disciplines. I think all team captains hope for dry weather and good ice conditions. Tatyana (Ivanova) was in hospital for a few weeks after her foot fracture in Yanqing and then at home for a few more days. She travelled with us to Winterberg and will try to luge there for the first time again".

Wolfgang Kindl (AUT): "I will try to take my speed from Igls to Winterberg. Things are going really well at the moment and I feel comfortable and believe that I can be fast on any track. Hansi Ludwig will surely be fast again in Winterberg, but Winterberg definitely suits me as well. It is very fast in the lower part. Top speed and aerodynamics are very important. We have to see how the weather will be. Winterberg is often a bit dangerous that it will be a weather race. Let's hope the weather holds and the conditions will be good for everyone." 

Johannes Ludwig (GER): "My starting performances, the material and the mental shape fit. What I am still lacking a bit is consistency in the runs. That's why I plan to complete every race as perfectly as possible in the last competitions before the Olympic Games. That would be my goal for Winterberg and the following races."

Emily Sweeney (USA): “There was some speed in Innsbruck, but obviously it’s disappointing to drop back from third in the regular, full on World Cup. I was really shocked to be in third after the first run because the week in Igls was pretty wild. It started with a crash in the first run of training. Broke my sled. The only reason I had a sled to slide on after that was because of Jayson (Terdiman) and (coach) Lubo (Mick), and it was just a wild time of throwing stuff together, so to have a third-place run after that, I’m proud of myself. I’m proud that was even within me at that point. But obviously, it’s frustrating to move back out of medal position, so it’s nice to have a break, and we’ll come back next half. In Winterberg I will attack again.” 
 

Schedule 6th EBERSPÄCHER World Cup 2021/22 in Winterberg:

Friday, 31 December 2021
09:00 am Nations Cup Men (39), 10:35 am Nations Cup Doubles (18), 11:35 am Nations Cup Women (42), followed by Award Ceremony
14:30 Training seeding-group (Doubles (12), Men (15), Women (12))

Saturday, 01 January 2022 
6th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup
10:00 h     1st run Doubles
11:10 h    2nd run Doubles

12:30 h    1st run Men‘s singles
14:05 h    2nd run Men‘s singles

Sunday, 02 January 2022
6th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup
09:30 h      1st run Women‘s singles
10:55 h    2nd run Women's singles

12:50 h    4th EBERSPÄCHER Team-relay World Cup presented by BMW

Subject to change 
 

Training results and further information from the 6th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Winterberg can be found under the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-team-staffel-weltcup-presented-by-bmw-9