Verena Hofer, Gints Berzins and Rieder/Gufler in the lead

Verena Hofer, Gints Berzins and Rieder/Gufler in the lead:
Nations Cup at the start of the second EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup weekend in Oberhof

Oberhof (FIL/16. Feb. 2024) Verena Hofer (Italy) and Gints Berzins (Latvia) as well as the Italian duo Ludwig Rieder and Lukas Gufler won the Nations Cup at the start of the EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup weekend in the LOTTO Thüringen EisArena.

In the women's event, 22-year-old Verena Hofer from Italy triumphed with a winning time of 42.214 seconds, just ahead of 24-year-old Austrian Hannah Prock (42.216) and 23-year-old Latvian Sigita Berzina (42.291). "My goal today was to finish in the top five to secure a good starting position for the World Cup on Sunday. Then I had a pretty good run. I was only a little unsure at the exit of curve 13, but it turned out well and I'm very happy about the win and the good starting position," said winner Verena Hofer. Hofer's team-mate Nina Zöggler (42.357) and Sweden's Tove Kohala (42.504) finished fourth and fifth.

Herren Doppel Podium, Nationanecup Oberhof 2024

In the men's single, Gints Berzins (43.146 seconds) once again demonstrated his skills and secured first place in the FIL Nations Cup for the third time in a row. Berzins commented on his success: "It's nice to win a Nations Cup. But the big goal for me is to win a World Cup and so it was important today to secure a good starting position for the World Cup. The ice conditions were excellent here in Oberhof today, despite the warm weather it was fast and easy to slide." Slovakia's Jozef Ninis (43.161) was five tenths of a second faster than a week earlier at the Nations Cup and once again secured second place behind Berzins. Svante Kohala raced into third place. The Swede was a good eight hundredths of a second slower than winner Berzins. Australia's Alexander Ferlazzo (+0.218 seconds) and Ukraine's Anton Dukach (+0.218 seconds) completed the top five of the seventh FIL Nations Cup of the season.

Rieder / Gufler, Nationencup Oberhof 2024

In the Men’s Doubles competition, Ludwig Rieder and Lukas Gufler (42.081 seconds) topped the rankings and claimed their first Nations Cup victory together. Last week’s winners Zachary DiGregorio and Sean Hollander from the USA (42.147) had to settle for second place. Tomas Vavercak and Matej Zmij from Slovakia (42.520) still secured third place and thus starting number 1 at the EBERSPAECHER World Cup on Saturday, February 17. "The aim was to finish in the top three at the Nations Cup in order to secure one of the top starting numbers, and we managed that today with a good run," said Ludwig Rieder and Lukas Gufler added: "A win is always nice, it gives you confidence for further tasks."

In view of the weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday and the associated uncertainty regarding consistently fair track conditions for all lugers, the race management, and the Technical Director, in consultation with the jury, decided to apply Section 3.7.1 of the IRO (International Luge Regulations) at the seventh EBERSPAECHER World Cup in Oberhof. This means that the starting order will be adjusted once. Accordingly, the top five finishers in the singles and the top three finishers in the men's doubles from Friday's FIL Nations Cup will start in reverse order at the weekend.