Three is the magic number for Johannes Ludwig in rainy Winterberg

Winterberg (RWH) When it rains, then Johannes Ludwig blows everyone else out of the water: After finishing fourth in the World Championships in Sochi, the German won his third race of the season amidst heavy rain. As was the case with his wins in Sigulda (LAT) and Oberhof (GER), the 34-year-old German athlete Ludwig kept his nerve in the heavy rain at the Viessmann World Cup race in Winterberg, pushing Latvia’s Kristers Aparjods and his team-mate Sebastian Bley into second and third place.

This marked the best result of Aparjods’ (the 2016 Youth Olympic Champion) career. Latvia has never won a World Cup race in the men’s singles but his team-mate Eliza Cauce broke this spell earlier in the day in Winterberg by becoming the first female Latvian to win a women’s race.

World Champion Roman Repilov (695 points) is still the athlete to beat, even though the Russian did not compete in Winterberg due to safety concerns. Austria’s squad, consisting of the Olympic Champion David Gleirscher, World Championship runner-up Jonas Müller and World Championship bronze medallist Wolfgang Kindl, as well as the two-time Olympic Champion and record-breaking World Champion Felix Loch (GER) also missed the race for the same reason.

Roman Repilov is followed in second place by Italy’s European Champion Dominik Fischnaller, who now has 694 points after finishing fourth in Winterberg. Russia’s Semen Pavlichenko (641) is followed by Johannes Ludwig in fourth place (590). In view of these results, the finals of the Viessmann World Cup on the artificial sliding track in Königssee (29 February / 1 March 2020) promise to be packed full of suspense.

For safety reasons, the men tackled the race from the starting point for the women’s event.

Quotes

Johannes Ludwig (GER / 2018 Olympic bronze medallist, bronze at the 2013 World Championships, five-time fourth-place-finisher at the World Championships, 2017 and 2020 World Champion in the team relay, gold in the team relay at the 2018 Olympics)

“Winning in the rain seems to be a trend for me. I have nothing against it as long as I get the victories. Of course, we knew that we would be battling difficult conditions. Winterberg is kind of close to my heart; I always feel at ease here and also had the honour of celebrating my first World Cup victory here.”

Kristers Aparjods (LAT/ runner-up in the team relay at the 2020 World Championships, 2016 Youth Olympic Champion, 2017 Junior World Champion)

“After messing up my first run, I wanted my second start to be better. But it still wasn’t quite good enough. Luck was on my side, too. I also wondered whether I should compete or not. Obviously, the conditions weren’t ideal. But it is up to each athlete to decide whether they’ll race or not.”

Sebastian Bley (GER)

“The conditions were tough and I made the best of them.”