Preview 9th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Winterberg (GER): World Cup finals at Sauerland / Decisions in the overall World Cup of women, men, men's doubles and Team Relay are still open
Winterberg (FIL/21 Feb 2023) For the Grand Final of the 45th FIL World Cup season, the female and male athletes are heading to Winterberg once again this weekend from February 24 to 26, 2023. Visiting the VELTINS EisArena for the second time, the final World Cup points will be awarded this time. In addition to the races in the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup, the last Team Relay of the EBERSPAECHER Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW is on the program on Sunday.
After the small crystal globes in the Sprint World Cup were awarded two weeks ago at the same location, the discipline rankings in the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup (9 races) and the decisions in the overall World Cup (12 races) are still on the agenda. 99 athletes from 14 nations will be competing this weekend. 21 women and 28 men in singles as well as 9 women's and 16 men's doubles have registered.
Overall World Cup decision exciting until the very end - only Vötter/Oberhofer early overall winners in women's doubles
In addition to the big JOSKA crystal globes for the victory in the EBERSPAECHER Overall World Cup, the FIL will also award small crystal globes for the overall discipline winners of the classic EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup this weekend. The decisions in the Sprint World Cup were made at the first World Cup in Winterberg: Julia Taubitz (GER), Dominik Fischnaller (ITA), Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt (GER) as well as Selina Egle and Lara Kipp (AUT) and Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer (ITA), who are tied on points, were celebrated as overall winners of the 2022/23 FIL Sprint World Cup.
In the women's event, Julia Taubitz is about to defend her title in the overall World Cup. She leads with 892 points ahead of her teammates Dajana Eitberger (802 p.) and Anna Berreiter (719 p.). With this 90-point cushion, she only had to finish if Eitberger won. In any case, the German women will decide the podium among themselves, since the Austrian Madeleine Egle with 603 points can no longer displace anyone even with a victory.
Things are much closer in the men's singles event. Since the leader Dominik Fischnaller (ITA) did not make it into the top three either in Winterberg or St. Moritz-Celerina, Felix Loch (GER) with 721 points is only 36 points behind the South Tyrolean (757 points). If the 33-year-old federal police officer from Bavaria wins, Fischnaller would have to finish at least third to secure the overall victory. Austria's Wolfgang Kindl (600 p.) has to do everything to secure his third place as both teammate David Gleirscher (AUT, 596 p.) and Max Langenhan (GER, 585 p.) are still competing for third place.
In the overall women's doubles World Cup the decision has already been made, at least as far as the victory is concerned. After their shared title in the Sprint World Cup, Italy's Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer secured the victory in the Overall World Cup already early in St. Moritz-Celerina. Thanks to ten podium finishes so far, they have an unbeatable lead with 940 points ahead of Selina Egle and Lara Kipp (AUT, 815 p.) and Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal (GER, 813 p.).
In the men's doubles the decision for the big crystal globe will once again be made between the Germans Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt from Bavaria and defending champions Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken from Thuringia. After winning three Sprint and World Cup events recently in a row, Wendl/Arlt have extended their lead and are leading now with 914 points ahead of Eggert/Benecken (870 p.) and Bots/Plume (LAT, 711 p.) before the World Cup final in Winterberg. If their teammates win, they would have to finish at least seventh to win.
Team Germany celebrated an impressive anniversary last weekend with their 45th team relay win. However, the team was defeated several times this year and could only win two of the previous five team relays of the EBERSPÄCHER Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW. Germany leads the ranking with 455 points ahead of Latvia (415 p.), USA (265 p.), Italy (250 p.) and Austria (240 p.).
The current standings in all rankings can be viewed here: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/gesamtstaende?event_season_id=30
Press conference for the 9th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup
Press manager Luisa Mette invites all interested press representatives to a press conference, which takes place on Friday, February 24, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. in the VELTINS EisArena Lounge. In addition to Stephan Pieper, Managing Director of Sportzentrum Winterberg Hochsauerland GmbH, Julia Taubitz, Dajana Eitberger, Tobias Wendl, Tobias Arlt, Felix Loch and head coach Norbert Loch are requested from the German team. In addition, Hannah Prock and Austria's head coach Christian Eigentler are expected at the press conference as well as Italy's Dominik Fischnaller. There is also the possibility to participate in the press conference online via this link: https://hochsauerlandkreis.my.webex.com/hochsauerlandkreis.my/j.php?MTID=m1c3fd1da1d17a8a46a89c3d8fb24eb9e.
Please register for the press conference by February 23, 2023, 4:00 p.m. at the latest by sending an e-mail to luisa.mette@VELTINS-EisArena.de .
Quotes:
Felix Loch (GER): “It's going to be exciting. I'll let myself be surprised and try to race well again next weekend in Winterberg. The season went great, I would also be satisfied with a second place in the overall World Cup and I would absolutely be happy for Dominik, who raced a great season.”
Dominik Fischnaller (ITA): “Now we have made it exciting until the end. After the Sprint World Cup, I definitely want to get the overall ranking and the big World Cup globe as well. I will give everything again in Winterberg. After all, 36 points is a lead. I hope it will be enough.”
Christian Eigentler (ÖRV head coach): “I am just as satisfied with the performance of our men in singles, who have underlined team strength, as with the performance in the team event. Our relay team performed well with strong reaction times and clean runs and was rewarded accordingly. However, in the women's event, as in the doubles, we lost ground due to our current deficits at the start. We know that we have to catch up here and will react accordingly in the preparation for the coming season. However, our first focus is clearly on Winterberg, where we will once again fully attack and definitely want to bring the season to a positive closure.”
Julia Taubitz (GER): “Of course I would have liked to decide the overall World Cup already in St. Moritz-Celerina, but I like Winterberg and I like to race there. Besides, it's much nicer if it stays really exciting until the end.”
Emily Sweeney (USA): “It was a bummer to have the mistakes I had in the second run of my singles race. I’m really happy I was able to do enough in the team relay to give the guys a chance at a podium. They had great runs and really earned it for us all. Zack and Sean’s moms were here so it was great to celebrate with a bit of home on the road and enjoy a good ending to St. Moritz!”
Zachary DiGregorio (USA): “The team relay in St. Moritz was a great race with all the work we have done throughout the year, so it’s great to see some results. We still need to make some progress for sure, but we’re finally on the right track. Our coaches are working hard and all the support we have is amazing, so now we need to make that final step.”
Tucker West (USA): “I’m really excited to leave St. Moritz with a medal in the team relay. After the race, it was clear that I didn’t have the correct set up for this track or these weather conditions. Our coaches Lubo (Mick) and Kaspars (Dumpis) spent hours during the night redoing the sled setup to find more speed in the race. I think we’re still a long way from where we need to be but hopefully it was a step in the right direction. The team is always strong racing together, so it’s great to see that pay off.”
Schedule & TV coverage
Local start time (=CET/MEZ)
Friday, 24. 02. 2023
09:00 FIL Nationscup
14:30 Training seeded group
Saturday, 25. 02. 2023
11:00 Men’s doubles, 1st run
11:45 Women’s doubles, 1st run
12:30 Men’s doubles, 2nd run
13:15 Women’s doubles, 2nd run
14:15 Women, 1st run
15:40 Women, 2nd run
Sunday, 26. 02. 2023
10:55 Men, 1st run
12:25 Men, 2nd run
14:20 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
FIL-Studio: From 30 minutes before and after all races you will always find live interviews with the winners and background information about the races live in the FIL-Studio on our YouTube channel: FIL Luge - YouTube
