Sigita Berzina, Tucker West and Germany's doubles win opening competition in Lake Placid
Lake Placid (FIL/USA Luge, 2 Dec 2023) They are currently the fastest starters among the international luge elite. Sigita Berzina (LAT), Tucker West (USA), Jessica Dengenhardt / Cheyenne Rosenthal (GER) and the Olympic Champions Tobias Wendl / Tobias Arlt (GER) proved this on December 1, 2023 at the international kick-off start competition at the new USA Luge start facility in Lake Placid.
The event, which was jointly organized by USA Luge and the International Luge Federation, FIL, marked the kickoff of the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup season, which begins next weekend at nearby Mount van Hoevenberg.
The first run of the competition was held as a traditional luge start. Only the best eight sleds progressed to the second run, which was held with a reaction start, similar to the team relay. Each nation could enter two sleds in each discipline.
Women’s singles
Sigita Berzina from Latvia won the women's event with a total time of 8.01 seconds after two starts. This put the Latvian three hundredths of a second ahead of her teammate Elina Ieva Vitola (8.04 seconds), who in turn was one hundredth of a second ahead of overall World Cup winner Julia Taubitz from Germany (8.05 seconds).
Summer Britcher (USA/Glen Rock, Pa.) just missed out on the podium in fourth place with a time of 8.11, while World Champion Anna Berreiter (GER) finished seventh in 8.22 seconds.
Men's singles
Three-time Olympian Tucker West (USA/Ridgefield, Conn.) clocked a time of 7.42 seconds, beating Latvia's 2020 Youth Olympic Games Champion Gints Berzins, who finished seven hundredths of a second behind West in 7.49 seconds. Mateusz Sochowicz from Poland finished third in 7.52. The best German starter was three-time Olympic Champion Felix Loch in fourth place. World Champion Jonas Müller from Austria came seventh. West's teammate Jonny Gustafson reached the 12th together with Anton Dukach from the Ukraine, missing out on a place in the next round by 0.01 seconds. The 2018 Olympic silver medalist, Chris Mazdzer (USA/Salt Lake City, Utah), did not compete.
“There’s a little bit of a homefield advantage here, but I had a great summer of training and it’s been a fun kickoff event,” said West. “I knew the field would be strong and they showed up well. It’s been great to share this new facility with the rest of the world.”
West, who earned three World Cup victories over the years in Lake Placid and Whistler, said he is looking forward to starting the season at home. “My past success here adds some pressure, but I’m excited to get going and it’s great to start out with this.”
Women's doubles
In the Women's doubles, World Champions Jessica Dengenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal of Germany were unbeatable (total 8.22 seconds).
The two doubles from the USA achieved personal bests and also secured two places on the podium. Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirkby took second place in 8.31, while their teammates Maya Chan and Reannyn Weiler finished third in 8.36.
“We had a great performance today, which is really nice in this first international start competition,” said Kirkby. “Today, we matched our regular pull on the start ramp so that was happy to see.”
Men's doubles
Three-time Olympic Champions in doubles Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt from Germany took first place with a time of 7.64, followed by Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner from Italy in 7.67 and Martins Bots and Roberts Plume from Latvia in 7.69.
The 2023-2024 World Cup season begins in the United States next weekend, December 8 and 9, in Lake Placid.
Information on media accreditation for the event can be found at the following link: https://orda.org/media/press-room/#tab-media-credentials
