Victory at the final: Wolfgang Kindl benefits from mishaps of his competitors

St. Moritz (FIL) With his tenth World Cup victory, Wolfgang Kindl won his first European title at the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in St. Moritz. The 33-year-old Austrian had not expected this after the first run, as he finished third behind Dominik Fischnaller (Italy) and Johannes Ludwig (Germany).

But both failed and fell far behind. Fischnaller was eighth and Ludwig eleventh. So the luger from Innsbruck-Igls, who got the small crystal globe as winner of the sprint classification, could celebrate his third season's victory. "I saw in training that I can be really fast here and win," said Kindl, "I didn't hit the first run so well, then the second was really round." Second was Kristers Aparjods (Latvia), 0.021 seconds behind, ahead of Kindl's compatriot and last year's winner Nico Gleirscher (0.300 sec. back), who improved from seventh place.

For Ludwig, the mistake was annoying, but not a major setback. The 35-year-old had already been the winner of the overall World Cup ahead of Kindl since last weekend in Oberhof. "I wanted to enjoy St. Moritz because it's a beautiful track and huge fun to slide," said Ludwig, "I actually did, except for the second run before the Horseshoe. I don't really know what happened yet - two walls, a drift." Behind Ludwig and Kindl, three-time Olympic champion Felix Loch (GER) and Kristers Aparjods (LAT) finished tied for third place in the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup for the 2021/22 season.

When Kindl and Gleirscher stood together during the winner's interview for the domestic TV station ORF, Reinhard Egger crashed the interview, hugged his teammates, congratulated them and wished them all the best for the Winter Olympics. The reason for the action: the 32-year-old was competing in his last World Cup race. "I was brutally emotional at the start," he said, "because I knew this was going to be my last race, with my teammates, with whom I had been racing for up to 22 years."

The U-23 European Championship was decided by Leon Felderer. The 21-year-old was the best Italian in sixth place. As a reward for his development this season, he will be nominated for the Olympic Games as the third starter alongside Dominik and Kevin Fischnaller.  

Result 9th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup

Overall World Cup 2021/22 season, Men's singles