Calgary (pps) The Viessmann Luge World Cup is proving as varied and attractive as hardly before in the 2005-2006 Olympic winter. Prior to the fourth event on Friday (December 9) and Saturday (De-cember 10) in Calgary, Canada, there were different winners in all nine previous competitions in the women’s, men’s and doubles’ races. Nine races – nine victors. The world’s top lugers have not been so close for a long time.

Tatjana Huefner won her first Viessmann World Cup race ever at Altenberg, Germany, thus achieving the 59th successive victory for the German women. The team of national coach Thomas Schwab will undoubtedly gain their 60th win on the 1988 Olympic track in Calgary. “The internal competition among the Germans is as extreme as rarely before. Three World Cup events, three German winners – that shows that we all have improved”, said Silke Kraushaar, who won the Viessmann World Cup opener at Sigulda, Latvia. 2002 Olympic champion Sylke Otto proved the best at the Olympic test at Cesana Pariol, Italy, achieving the 35th World Cup victory of her career.

The race at Canada Olympic Park will be vital regarding the ticket to the 2006 Olympic Winter Games for Barbara Niedernhuber, the 1998 and 2002 Olympic silver medallist. According to the current standings, the Olympics will take place without the Viessmann World Cup title holder.
Niedernhuber’s German team-mate Georg Hackl will return to the Viessmann Luge World Cup in Cal-gary, but just for that race. Instead of going on to Lake Placid, USA (December 16-17), the three-time Olympic champion and two-time silver medallist will rather practise on his home-track at Koenigssee. The 39-year-old most successful luger of all times, who won his second World Cup title in Calgary in 1990, still needs to practise after surgery and is not considered a favourite. His team-mate David Moeller, who won the event in Calgary last year, has a better chance. But the hottest favourites to get on top of the podium are this season’s three victors, Russia’s title holder Albert Demchenko, Italy’s 2002 Olympic champion Armin Zoeggler, and Austria’s Markus Kleinheinz.

The three previous victors in the doubles are Christian Oberstolz-Patrick Gruber (Italy), Patric Leitner-Alexander Resch and Sebastian Schmidt-Andre Forker (all of Germany). But the US Americans Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin, last year’s winners, are considered real „Calgary specialists“, as are Germany’s reigning World champions, Andre Florschuetz-Torsten Wustlich, who gained their first World title in Calgary in 2001.

Canada is looking forward to the appearance of the Moffat brothers Mike and Chris, who attracted attention by finishing six (Cesana Pariol) and eight (Altenberg) at their comeback. They may well end up on the podium at the World Cup competition on their home-track.