Berchtesgaden. Silke Kraushaar, Steffen Skel/Steffen Wöller ad Armin Zöggeler are the winners of the first part of the open Two-Track European Championships in artificial track luge. On the luge track in Königssee, the Olympic Champion from Oberhof was first in the women’s final (46.008 sec), in front of Barbara Niedernhuber from Berchtesgaden (46.135) and World Champion Sylke Otto (46.161).
Skel/Wöller (45.858) won the doubles‘ competition in front of Tobias and Markus Schiegl (45.909) from Austria and the US team Mark Grimmette/Brian Martin (46.067).
The men’s competition was dominated by Olympic silver medallist Armin Zöggeler (47.572) from Italy, who ended up in front of Georg Hackl (47.777) from Berchtesgaden and Karsten Albert (47.939) from Oberhof.
On January 5, the winners of the European Championships will be determined on the artificially refrigerated track in Winterberg.
Steffen Skel: „I have always liked this system. The most important thing is to race best at exactly the right moment. The race in Winterberg will be really tight – with everybody trying to chase us.”
Silke Kraushaar: „I have won many races in Königssee and no longer think of the World Championships two years ago, when I nearly crashed. Such events are the best kind of promotion for our sport.”
Armin Zöggeler: „I am more than happy. My first run was not ideal, but my second and third heats were really great.”
Georg Hackl: „Armin Zöggeler has shown that he is currently the best luger in the world. I am not surprised that he took the track record from me, however, I have to admit I am really amazed at how much faster he was. On the other hand, I am glad to have caught up with the world’s top athletes again on my home track.”
(December 29, 2000)
