Record chases in sprint - Loch, Ivanova and Sics brothers fastest

Sigulda (FIL) The 3rd BMW Sprint World Cup of the 2021/22 season in Sigulda, Latvia, turned into a real record chase. As the fifth last starter, Semen Pavlichenko slided the sprint course from the exit of curve 6 to the finish without looking up. The Russian thus improved the best time to 27.929 seconds. But this only lasted for minutes, because Nico Gleirscher (Austria) reached 27,904. Then came Dominik Fischnaller. The Italian's time: 27.890. Felix Loch (Germany) nibbled off another 71 thousandths of a second - 27.819. Could Kristers Aparjods beat this time? No, with 27.833 seconds the winner of the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup from the day before finished second in the sprint. "That was really fun, that's typical sprinting," said Felix Loch beaming with joy, "nobody knows how it will end."

The BMW Sprint World Cup in the women's event also ended in a surprise. Tatyana Ivanova won on her comeback weekend - also with a track record. The time of 31.241 seconds was 93 thousandths of a second faster than the old best time of Julia Taubitz. " My broken foot hampers me a lot at the start. Up to the light barrier after turn six I made speed," the 30-year-old Russian was happy to say. 0.014 seconds behind, Olympic champion Natalie Geisenberger (Germany) came in second ahead of the morning's World Cup winner Madeleine Egle. The Austrian thus came as close as 72 points to Taubitz in the overall World Cup ranking because the German only finished fifth.

Also in the doubles the winners of the classic race could not repeat their triumph in the sprint. Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken (Germany) had to give way to the brothers Andris and Juris Sics. The Latvians were 0.021 seconds faster on their home track, ultimately improving the track record by 0.556 seconds to 31.157 seconds. "We had a flawless run," said Andris Sics. Olympic champions Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (Germany) were 0.069 seconds behind and finished third, already followed by Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner of Italy, just three thousandths of a second behind.  

Detailed results of the 3rd BMW Sprint World Cup can be found under the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/bmw-sprint-weltcup-20