Sprint shuffles podium places
Lake Placid (FIL/09 Dec 2023) The special demands of the sprint races in the EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup were demonstrated at the season's opener on the selective Olympic track in Lake Placid. Yesterday's winner Max Langenhan won the men's race. In the women's event, his German compatriot Julia Taubitz had a better run than in the singles to take her first win of the season. Selina Egle and Lara Kipp (Austria) stood on the top step of the podium in the women's doubles as they did on Friday, while Latvia's Martins Bots and Robert Plume triumphed in the men's doubles.
Just how dominant Langenhan is at the moment is shown by the 0.303 second lead he had over his compatriot Felix Loch in the sprint. And that with a runtime of only 33.257 seconds. "That was a really, really good run. It went well, that's how I wanted to finish in Lake Placid," said Langenhan. An Austrian package followed in second place with Nico Gleirscher (0.338 seconds back) and World Champion Jonas Müller (0.414). "I am really happy," said a jubilant Gleirscher, "two third places at the start are definitely something to be proud of."
The fact that Julia Taubitz improved by one place gave her confidence. "I'm very happy with the run, it's a good start into the season," said the overall World Cup winner of last season. Her time was 37.451 seconds. Ashley Farquharson was just 0.099 seconds behind. It was the first career podium for the US American. She was followed by her compatriot Emily Sweeney (0.114). "It is nice to be on the podium with my teammate Ashley," said Sweeney, "it was very emotional to experience it together.” In fourth place, 0.165 seconds behind, was Madeleine Egle, the outstanding winner of the morning.
Despite their success, Selina Egle and Lara Kipp had mixed feelings. "I don't even know what to say, just unbelievable," said a jubilant Egle, "there's no better way to start the season.” Her co-driver Kipp was more critical about the performance and the lap time of 38.340 seconds: "Yesterday's performance was better, but there were some small mistakes today. To win by a tenth of a second surprised us and shows that our speed is enormous". The lead over the US duo Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirby was exactly 0.103 seconds. Dajana Eitberger and Saskia Schirmer (Germany/0.137) were third again. "It was another nice finish," said Eitberger after her World Cup debut in doubles, "we put our training into practice in both competitions, none of us expected that.”
With Martins Bots and Roberts Plume two Latvians could add their names to the list of sprint World Cup winners. "The third World Cup victory of our career today was the first sprint victory. This motivates us a lot for the upcoming tasks. It was our first time in Lake Placid and everyone told us how difficult it would be. The track was very well built and we really enjoyed racing here and are now looking forward to Whistler next week," said Roberts Plume. In 38.872 seconds, Bots/Plume beat Austria's Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl by five thousandths of a second. "Of course we could have won, the five thousandths were a bit upsetting inside," admitted Steu, "but we are very happy with our first joint World Cup appearance." Third-placed Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt were a bit annoyed. "We adjusted the sled to the weather conditions, but we had a bad run," said Wendl, "with a run like yesterday it could have been enough to get to the top. Zachary Di Gregorio and Sean Hollander, yesterday's surprise winners, finished sixth, 0.222 seconds behind Bots/Plume.
German head coach Norbert Loch summed up the first weekend of the EBERSPAECHER World Cup: "It was a very interesting competition with many different winners and athletes from different nations on the podium.”
