Taubitz, Ludwig and Eggert/Benecken German Champions

Altenberg (bsd/FIL) On Sunday, 24 October 2021, the German Luge Championships 2022 already took place in the SachsenEnergie Eiskanal in Altenberg under blue skies and sunshine. The Thuringian training group around Julia Taubitz (WSC Erzgebirge Oberwiesenthal), Johannes Ludwig (BRC Oberhof) and Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken (BRC Ilsenburg/RT Suhl) secured the German championship titles with fastest times in both runs. 

In the women's event, double World Champion Julia Taubitz won her second national title so far, beating Anna Berreiter (+0.232 sec., RC Berchtesgaden) and Jessica Degenhardt (+0.235 sec.), followed by Dajana Eitberger (+0.664 sec., RC Ilmenau), Cheyenne Rosenthal (+0.679 sec., BSC Winterberg) and Merle Fräbel (+5.937 sec., RT Suhl). Last year's winner Natalie Geisenberger (SV Miesbach) had fallen during training on Friday and, in agreement with the coaches and medical staff, had decided not to compete in order not to take any unnecessary risks and to heal the injuries she had suffered.
"The German Championships were always a competition where it was a bit tricky for me. Now I'm very happy because the World Cup qualification is over for me and I can take a deep breath. Of course it's a dream come true that I can take the title home with me," said Julia Taubitz, happy about the second championship title in her career.

In the men's race Johannes Ludwig shone with best start times, top speed in the track and decided both race heats in his favour with a total time of 1:48.504 min. He won his second championship title clearly ahead of Max Langenhan (+0.432 sec., BRC 05 Friedrichroda) and Chris Eißler (+0.642 sec., ESV Lok Zwickau). Last year's winner Felix Loch (+0.994 sec., RC Berchtesgaden) already had problems at the start in the first run, but improved from sixth to fourth place in the second run. Moritz Bollmann (+1.181 sec., RRV Sonneberg/Schalkau) finished fifth, Mathis Ertel (+1.255 sec., RRC Altenberg) sixth.
 "It wasn't as easy as it looked today. Altenberg is really a difficult track and I didn't ride that consistently in training either and tried a lot on the material. That's why there is always tension in my stomach about how the race will be. But it's good to be concentrated and focused. I liked the first run quite a bit, in the second run there were a few corners again, but if I work on my consistency now, it is important for the international comparison," explained the newly-crowned German Champion Johannes Ludwig.

In the doubles' there was the usual neck-and-neck race between Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken and the Bavarian double Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (RC Berchtesgaden/WSV Königssee), which the Thuringians decided in their favour this time and thus claimed their fifth German title. With an overall time of 1:24,212 min. they were ahead of Wendl/Arlt (+0,187 sec.) and the Winterbergers Robin Geueke/David Gamm (+0,594 sec., BSC Winterberg), followed by Max Ewald/Jakob Jannusch (+0,796 sec., RT Suhl/RRV Sonneberg/Schalkau), Hannes Orlamünder/Paul Gubitz (+0.860 sec., RRC Zella-Mehlis) and Moritz Jäger/Valentin Steudte (.1.133 sec.).

 "We drove a solid race. You always have little things that you want to optimise. In the first run, for example, that was the start curve. But we did that extremely well in the second run. Altenberg is simply a track where we feel comfortable and which we like very much. We delivered a good race, but you must not forget that the Tobis were also very strong and fast", Toni Eggert summed up the performance.
Jessica Degenhardt (RRC Altenberg), Timon Grancagnolo (ESV Lok Zwickau) and Moritz Jäger/Valentin Steudte (RRV Sonneberg/Schalkau) came out on top in the race-in-race German Junior Championships. For all athletes, the German Championships, the third of four races, were also about qualifying for the German World Cup team. The fourth and final selection race will be held in Winterberg on 28 October.

photos: Sandro Halank