Summer Britcher, Wolfgang Kindl and Eggert/Benecken lead at the halfway point

Summer Britcher, Felix Loch and Wendl/Arlt win the BMW Sprint World Cup

Calgary (RWH)  US luger Summer Britcher heads into the Christmas break at the top of the Viessmann World Cup standings following her victory in the BMW Sprint World Cup in Calgary. In the men’s event, Austrian Wolfgang Kindl has an early Christmas present in the form of the World Cup leader’s yellow jersey. After six of twelve events, Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken still lead the World Cup standings in the men’s doubles ahead of teammates Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt, despite finishing second in the BMW Sprint World Cup.

Wolfgang Kindl took third place behind Olympic Champion Felix Loch of Germany and Russian slider Roman Repilov to retain his lead in the Viessmann World Cup on 465 points. Following his two wins in Calgary, defending champion Felix Loch is now on 390 points, just behind American Chris Mazdzer, who came sixth in the BMW Sprint and is currently second, just 60 points off Kindl in first place. Following his success in the Viessmann World Cup, two-time Olympic Champion and four-time World Champion Loch took the 27th singles victory of his career in the BMW Sprint World Cup.

Summer Britcher now has three World Cup victories to her name following her win in the BMW Sprint World Cup in Calgary ahead of European Champion Dajana Eitberger (GER) and Russian Tatiana Ivanova, who finished in second and third respectively. Britcher, the U23 Vice World Champion, is currently on 495 points ahead of her teammate Erin Hamlin (431), who had a poor run in the sprint race, and German Olympic gold medallist Natalie Geisenberger (425), who came fourth in the Calgary sprint.

In the doubles, last year’s winners Eggert/Benecken finished joint second with Peter Penz/Georg Fischler (AUT) in the BMW Sprint World Cup. The defending champions have a comfortable cushion of 70 points over the Austrian Vice World Champions at the halfway point of the season (470 points). Wendl/Arlt are not far behind on 467 points. The Olympic Champions and two-time World Champions took the 32nd World Cup success of their career in Calgary. This leaves the duo within striking distance of the all-time record holders Patric Leitner/Alexander Resch (GER) on 34 wins.

In the men’s event, Roman Repilov finished second to achieve the best result of his career to date, as did Canadian Mitchel Malyk in fourth. David Gleirscher (AUT) achieved a personal best by finishing fifth in the Viessmann World Cup and the BMW Sprint.