Surprises at the dress rehearsal in the Cortina Sliding Center

Cortina d'Ampezzo (FIL/November 29, 2025) Cortina d'Ampezzo showed itself from its best side at the Olympic test competition of the International Luge Federation (FIL) – sunshine and blue skies. The new ice track at the Cortina Sliding Center also passed its first test with flying colors. All the lugers were full of praise for the ice.

In the women's event, Merle Fräbel already dominated the new track with confidence during the dress rehearsal. The German clocked the fastest time in both runs and achieved a total time of 1:45.770 minutes. “I like the track,” said Fräbel. Her new target time from the first run for future races: 52.826 seconds. World champion Julia Taubitz was 0.095 seconds behind her teammate. Lisa Schulte took third place on the podium, but was already 0.305 seconds behind. “My runs were good, but I'm not so good at the start,” said the Austrian. Ashley Farquharson (USA/0.438 seconds behind) was satisfied with fourth place. After a mistake in turn four in the first run, Switzerland's Natalie Maag (0.519) improved by two places to fifth. Behind her were two Italians, Verena Hofer (0.551) and Sandra Robatscher (0.641).

In the men's doubles, world champions Hannes Orlamünder and Paul Gubitz showed their ambitions. The world champions from Germany achieved the best times in both runs. In the first run, they set the best time with 52.653 seconds. In the end, their total time was 1:45.170 minutes. There was great jubilation among the Americans Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa, who finished second with a deficit of 0.234 seconds. “It's absolutely fantastic that we've already won a medal in February on the track where it really counts,” said front man Mueller. Six-time Olympic champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt came in third. The two Germans were 0.247 seconds behind. Fourth place went to Austrians Thomas Steu/Wolfgang Kindl (0.259) ahead of local heroes Emanuel Rieder/Simon Kainzwaldner (Italy/0.305) and Juri Gatt/Riccardo Schöpf (Austria/0.327).

The women's doubles event was much closer. The fastest in the combined time of both runs were the two Germans Dajana Eitberger and Magdalena Matschina in 1:46.415 minutes. The two Italians Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer (0.054) were able to use their home advantage. However, Oberhofer had to sit out the last three days of training due to neck problems. Katharina Huber stepped in for her during training. Third place went to world champions Selina Egle and Lara Kipp after a confident run with a best time of 53.069 seconds. Due to a mistake in the second run, they finished 0.059 seconds behind the winners. Elisa-Marie Sorch and Pauline Patz (Germany/0.873) surprised everyone and took fourth place ahead of the US duo Chevonne Forgan/Sophia Kirkby (0.921) and Latvians Marta Robezniece and Kitija Bogdanova (0.954). Surprisingly, the vice world champions Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal (Germany) finished only eleventh out of 18 sleds, 2.192 seconds behind.