Oberhof (pps) Olympic Champion Felix Loch has added the last missing title to his collection. At the 44th European Championships of the International Luge Federation (FIL), the three-time World Champion from Germany claimed the gold medal and thus completed his title collection. At the sixth stop of the Viessmann Luge World Cup series, carried out at the same time, Loch simultaneously celebrated his third season victory. It was his 13th individual career victory.
Defending Champion Andi Langenhan (GER), in fourth place after the first run, earned the silver medal. Germany’s Johannes Ludwig claimed the very first medal of his career, a bronze medal.
Loch is currently at the top of the overall rankings with 515 points to his credit, ahead of Andi Langenhan (435) and David Moeller (GER / 398), who earned a fifth-place finish in Oberhof on his 31st birthday.
Next weekend (January 19-20, 2013), the seventh stop of the Viessmann Luge World Cup series will be carried out on the artificially refrigerated track in Winterberg (GER).
Quotes
Felix Loch (GER / 2010 Olympic Champion; 2008, 2009 and 2012 World Champion; 2013 European Champion)
“Well, with my title collection now complete I could end my career… But that’s nonsense, of course. I’ll continue racing. I like the track in Oberhof – it’s where I celebrated my first World Championship title. And it’s just a lot of fun to race in front of such a great crowd.”
Andi Langenhan (GER / 2012 European Champion)
“I’m absolutely happy with the result. It was a difficult race and I made quite a lot of mistakes in my first run. However, within three years you’re racing down such a fast track perhaps three times.”
Johannes Ludwig (GER / 2013 European bronze medalist)
I’ve earned my first European Championship medal today. I felt a bit rattled after the training runs. But I was lucky today and managed two good runs.”
