Season preview men:  The Magnificent Seven and the Young Guns

Berchtesgaden (RWH) When a World Championship is staged on a slider’s home track, and the competitors who finished first and second in the previous year's World Cup hail from the host country, it is pretty easy to work out who the favorites are. There is no doubt that Semen Pavlichenko and Roman Repilov will be hot favorites at the 49th World Championships of the International Luge Federation (FIL) in the Sanki Sliding Center in Sochi, having finished first and second in the Viessmann World Cup in 2018/2019.

But ahead of the International Luge Federation’s 42nd season, there are more than half a dozen potential winners in the Viessmann Luge World Cup. In addition to Pavlichenko, the 2015 World Champion and three-time European Champion, and Repilov, overall winner in the 2016/2017 winter season, the two-time Olympic gold medallist and World Champion Felix Loch (GER), and the mighty Austrian squad are also intent on taking home the spoils.

Loch is embarking on his 13th World Cup season (luckily, he claims not to be superstitious) having emerged as the winner on six occasions, while the Austrians are awaiting a first victory in the men’s event since Markus Kleinheinz won back in the 2002/2003 season. René Friedl’s protégés have demonstrated their potential often enough – David Gleirscher, the gold medallist at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, Wolfgang Kindl, double World Champion in 2017, Jonas Müller, Sprint World Champion in 2019, and Reinhard Egger, World Championship runner-up in 2019, all have the potential to take victory.

Felix Loch is looking forward to his 13th season. “Everything is looking good right now. Physically I have no problems, and I’m getting pretty close to my best times,” says Loch. David Gleirscher also has his eyes on the prize: “Last winter I managed two podiums in the World Cup. I’m ready for more now – a World Championship medal wouldn’t be bad at all.” His compatriot Wolfgang Kindl won the international qualifying race for the Lillehammer Cup, but was once again left complaining about physical issues – “It’s definitely a positive result, even though my neck is causing problems.”

Behind the Magnificent Seven of Pavlichenko, Repilov, Loch and the four Austrians, Germany’s veteran Johannes Ludwig, Olympic bronze medallist and Team Relay gold medallist, and the Fischnaller cousins Kevin and Dominik from Italy are hungry for glory. And then come the Young Guns in the form of Latvia’s European Championship bronze medallist Kristers Aparjods, gold medallist at the Youth Olympic Games in 2016 and Junior World Champion in 2017.