Armin Zoeggeler is hunting record winners Georg Hackl and Markus Prock Park City (pps) The blistering performance of Armin Zoeggeler (Italy) at the Viessmann Luge World Cup opener on the Olympic track at Cesana Pariol was described by Georg Hackl, the most successful luger of all times, as “a real feast for the eyes”. In the end, the two-time Olympic champion won the event with almost four tenths of a second ahead of his opponents, celebrated his 31 st World Cup success and thus disproved his reputation as a “late starter”. It seems to be just a matter of time when Zoeggler will eventually draw level or even get ahead of Viessmann World Cup record winners Georg Hackl and Markus Prock (each boasting 33 victories). Zoeggeler is currently enjoying great popularity in Italy and this is why an unbelievable 5,000 spectators followed the event on his home track.

The second Viessmann Luge World Cup will be carried out next weekend on the 2002 Olympic track at Salt Lake City. The labyrinth at Park City is almost something like Zoeggeler’s favorite track since at three World Cup events and the 2005 World Championships the luger from South Tyrol took twice the gold medal. However, at the World Cup events in the winter of 2002 and the autumn of 2003 Georg Hackl and Zoeggeler’s teammate Reinhold Rainer slid to gold. Solely Russia’s Albert Demchenko could soonest break Zoeggeler’s predominance. Demchenko raced to silver at the 2006 Olympic Games as well as at the World Cup opener at Cesana Pariol. US American Tony Benshoof, who slid to a 21 st place result at Cesana, will be trying to redeem himself on his home track.

Germany’s 17-year-old World Junior champion Felix Loch will celebrate his World Cup debut at Park City. Similar to teammate Johannes Ludwig, who slid to a remarkable 11 th place result at his first ever World Cup event, Felix Loch will be trying to achieve a similarly good performance.