Second place is enough for Julia Taubitz to win the overall World Cup, just ahead of Fräbel

9th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup 2026

Altenberg (FIL/08.03.2026) The women delivered a truly heart-stopping finale at the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Altenberg. Olympic champion Julia Taubitz secured second place with a four-point lead over her German teammate Merle Fräbel, who celebrated her victory and the track record of 51.754 seconds. For 30-year-old Taubitz, who collected a total of 634 points, this is her sixth overall World Cup victory and her fifth in a row. “Today was a perfect day,” she said with relief, “it was the most exciting overall World Cup victory of my career.” She then celebrated with the numerous spectators in the finish area.

Merle Fräbel finished the two runs in 1:43.790 minutes. Taubitz was 0.137 seconds slower. Kenidija Aparjode, who had been in the lead at the halfway point, came in third, 0.143 seconds behind. The Latvian was a little annoyed: “Victory would have been possible today, but I made a mistake in turn eleven.” Lisa Schulte finished fourth, 0.221 seconds behind, and came third in the overall World Cup with 558 points. Melina Fischer and Anna Berreiter were 0.745 seconds slower than Fräbel and tied for fifth place.

It was already clear before this final race in Altenberg that Felix Loch (Germany) had won the overall World Cup for the eighth time with 801 points ahead of Jonas Müller (Austria/685) and Max Langenhan (Germany/605). But that did not diminish his hunger for success. He improved the track record in both runs. And for the first time, a luger broke the 53-second mark in the 1387-meter-long ice channel with a time of 52.998 seconds. “It was really the plan to achieve a time in the 52s,” he revealed. The fact that this performance also enabled him to celebrate his 57th World Cup victory and thus catch up with record holder Armin Zöggeler made him even happier. The 36-year-old said of his motivation: “You could say there are two who have two more balls.” Those are Zöggeler and Markus Prock (Austria). No, that's not his motivation, “but it would be nice if I could add another bullet or two.”

Loch is listed in the results with a total time of 1:46.069 minutes. Dominik Fischnaller (Italy) came second, 0.364 seconds behind. Behind him was a trio from Austria: David Gleirscher (0.434 seconds behind) ahead of his brother Nico (0.644) and Wolfgang Kindl (0.751). David Nössler (Germany/0.886) came sixth.