Successful 43. FIL Summer Cup in Zwickau - Exciting races, bright sunshine and great reunions

Zwickau (FIL/May 11, 2025) From May 9 to 11, 2025, the Westsachsenstadion was  once again transformed into the center of summer luge sports. ESV Lokomotive Zwickau e. V. hosted the 43rd International FIL Summer Cup in Luge – a sporting highlight that attracted over 130 athletes from seven nations (Latvia, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Germany) to German Saxony.

“It was another successful FIL Summer Cup. The weekend is always very exhausting, but also great. You meet so many familiar and new faces. The weather was super sunny and the atmosphere among the athletes and fans was fantastic,” said co-organizer Andrea Müller, visibly satisfied.

The starting signal was given on Friday for the start competitions. In the age group Youth A/Junior, Cyprian Dybalski (Poland) and Marie Riedl (Austria) came out on top. In the younger Youth B/C category, Adams Sics (Latvia) and Malou Hollweg (Germany) achieved the best start times.

On the following days, former and active athletes competed in exciting races on roller sleds - in the best weather conditions and in front of an enthusiastic audience. In addition to the singles classes in youth, juniors, general class and seniors, the traditional FUN relay was once again a highlight.

In the comparison of nations team Austria with Marie Riedl, Johannes Scharnagel and Paul Socher triumphed ahead of Germany (Melina Fischer, Timon Grancagnolo, Pascal Kunze) and Poland (Bartosz and Cyprian Dybalski, Zuzanna Jedrzejczyk). The teams from the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Latvia followed in the other places.

There were also strong performances in the individual races:

Women's General Class: World Cup athlete Melina Fischer (Zwickau) won in 47.001 seconds ahead of Jessica Tiebel (47.280) and Josephine Meitzner (47.453).

Men's general class: Local hero Chris Eißler won for the third time in a row (46.499) ahead of Konrad Köhler (46.908) and Pascal Kunze (46.934).

In the senior women's event, former bobsleigh world champion Cathleen Martini luged to victory once again in her home town. Poland's Przemyslaw Pochold defended his title in the seniors' event with a time of 46.890 sec. just ahead of Radek Riha (46.911) and luge legend René Friedl (47.062).

The junior class was won by Austrian Paul Socher (46.337 sec.) ahead of his compatriot Johannes Scharnagel (46.732) and Poland's Bartosz Dybalski (46.802).

The Pole Cyprian Dybalski (46.424 sec.) won the young men's Youth A class ahead of local hero Liron Raimer (46.703) and the Bulgarian Mihail Stefanov (47.015).

Marie Riedl from Austria won the women's Youth A category (46.907) ahead of her teamate Lina Bleiner (46.918) and Lilly-Michelle Laukner from Oberwiesenthal (46.956).

The largest fields of participants were in the Youth C and Youth B racing classes. Matyas Riha was the fastest of the 19 boys, while Malu Hollweg won the competition for the 21 young women.

The sporting events were complemented by an attractive side events program with culinary offerings - a festival for the whole family for the whole family and proof of the vitality of summer luge.

The date for the 44. International FIL Summer Cup has already been set: from May 7 to 10, 2026, it will once again mean “the track is clear” in Zwickau!

Photos: Sven Schmutzler