Season Recap Ladies: Julia Taubitz wins Overall, Anna Berreiter World Champion

Salzburg (FIL/19 April 2023) With eight victories in twelve races, Germany clearly dominated the medal count in the 2022/2023 EBERSPÄCHER Women's Luge World Cup. Austria was represented by Madeleine Egle with four victories and Lisa Schulte with one silver medal. For the US team, Emily Sweeney won four World Cup medals and Brittney Arndt one, putting the USA in third place on the medals table ahead of Latvia.

Julia Taubitz successfully defended her overall EBERSPÄCHER World Cup title with 947 points. The 26-year-old runner-up started the race with a 90 points lead and only had to finish. But that is often easier said than done. The Saxon, who trains at the Olympic base in Oberhof, took home all three crystal globes in the World Cup rankings. She won the Sprint World Cup, the EBERSPÄCHER individual World Cup and the overall World Cup. In the individual World Cup, she only missed the podium twice in nine decisions and won twice.

In the individual (9 races) and overall World Cup (12 races), the German women were on the podium in the same constellation. Julia Taubitz won the overall World Cup with 947 points ahead of Dajana Eitberger (852 p.) and Anna Berreiter (789 p.). "I have won all three competition series for the first time in my career and I am incredibly happy. The overall World Cup is the most important for me. It shows who was the best athlete during the whole season", said Julia Taubitz.

The World Cup final was also a very special one for luge lady Dajana Eitberger: The 32-year-old athlete from Thuringia had already announced at the beginning of the season that it would be her last season in the singles and that she would switch to the women's doubles on her way to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano-Cortina. She will share the sled with 19-year-old Saskia Schirmer from Berchtesgaden. She has been competing for the German national team in the World Cup since 2013, with Olympic silver in Pyeongchang 2018 and two World Championship bronze medals among the biggest successes of her career to date. The reigning Sprint World Champion also finished second in the overall World Cup three times and third once.

Anna Berreiter wins World Championship gold

After winning Olympic silver in 2022, Anna Berreiter secured her first World Championship title in 2023 at the LOTTO Thüringen Ice Arena. In front of a high-ranking delegation of the IOC (International Olympic Committee), including President Dr. Thomas Bach, Sport Director Kit McConnell and Deputy Director of Winter Sports Irina Gladkikh, the German ladies celebrated a triple success. With an overall time of 1:23.991, Berreiter beat defending champion Julia Taubitz (+0.058 sec.) and Sprint World Champion Dajana Eitberger (+0.116 sec.).

Berreiter already showed two years ago that the new track suits her when the 23-year-old from Bischofswiesen celebrated the first World Cup victory of her career. She also won her first national title in Oberhof at the end of last year. "World Champion sounds very good to me. I accept the title with gratitude. It was a great day," said the 23-year-old soldier after winning her first World Cup title.

As expected, the close World Cup race turned into a German-Austrian showdown. After the first run Austria's Madeleine Egle was still on course of a medal. At the end she missed the podium in fourth place (+0.177 sec) as well as 19-year-old Merle Fräbel (GER, +0.212 sec.) in fifth place. Fräbel also won the U23 World Championship. Austria's Lisa Schulte was sixth, closely followed by Italy's Andrea Vötter, who finished seventh in the singles less than two hours after winning bronze in the women's doubles.