Oberhof (pps) The winners of the first Suzuki Challenge Cup event, Germany’s Sylke Otto, Italy’s Armin Zoeggeler and his team-mates Christian Oberstolz-Patrick Gruber, are heading the overall rankings prior to the second competition of the k.o. event.

With the 40 th World Luge Championships next year already in mind, the Suzuki Challenge Cup event in Oberhof on Friday (start of the pre-competition at 09:30 hrs, semi-final and final as of 11:30 hrs) represents a welcome chance to test the renovated artificially iced track in Thuringia. After the renovation, new track records in all three disciplines are expected already at the Suzuki Challenge Cup event.

With a heavy heart Sylke Otto, with 19 individual victories “queen” of the Suzuki Challenge Cup, had to refrain from competing in Oberhof. Only two sliders per nation are allowed to participate and since Sylke Otto finished on fourth position behind her team-mates Silke Kraushaar-Pielach, Tatjana Huefner and Anke Wischnewski, the 37-year-old is condemned to stand on the sidelines. Germany’s colours will now be represented by Olympic runner-up Kraushaar-Pielach and Olympic bronze medallist Huefner.