Skel/Wöller win Overall World Cup with a lead of 46 points
One week before the World Championships: Hackl`s first victory in this season
Lake Placid. With her victory at the Viessmann World Cup finals in Lake Placid (state of New York, USA), Olympic champion Silke Kraushaar from Oberhof/ GER won the Overall World Cup rating after the 1998/99 season for a second time. With 1:28.989 minutes and 740 points, the 30 year old Silke Kraushaar from Thuringia decided the Overall World Cup for herself in front of World and European Champion Sylke Otto (1:29.238 / Oberwiesenthal/ GER) and Austria‘s Angelika Neuner (1:29.571). It was the 26th World Cup victory of a German woman in a row. At least two women were among the top three athletes at each of the eight women’s competitions of the Viessmann World Cup series.
Steffen Skel/ Steffen Wöller, who finished at rank seven in Lake Placid one week before the World Championships in Calgary/ Canada, won the Overall World Cup rating with a lead of 46 points. With a total of 591 points, the doubles team from Winterberg/ GER won the Overall World Cup in front of Andre Florschütz/Torsten Wustlich (545) from Oberhof and Oberwiesenthal/ GER. The World and European Champions from Berchtesgaden and Königssee/ GER Patric Leitner/Alexander Resch (520) are in third place. At the 8th Viessmann World Cup in Lake Placid, they were second behind Italy’s Kurt Brugger/ Wilfried Huber (1:28.942 compared to 1:28,850). The 1994 Olympic champions had won their last World Cup race four years ago in Oberhof/ GER.
Opinions:
Silke Kraushaar (Germany): „I am totally happy to have won this race and the Overall World Cup. With the strong wind, the conditions were very bad here“.
Sylke Otto (Germany): „I am very content with my two second ranks here in Lake Placid and in the Overall World Cup rating. As at least two women were among the top three athletes at each competition, we can look back onto a very successful season.“
Angelika Neuner (Austria): „It is always my goal to enter the German women’s phalanx. Now I am totally happy with my two third ranks.“
Steffen Skel: (Germany): „It was our aim to run down safely and to keep well. My partner has a terrible cold. If it had not been for the Overall World Cup rating we might have quit the race after the first run.“
Kurt Brugger (Italy): „At last we had two good runs again. We feel very good to have won a race after such a long time. We had managed this track well already during training.“
Gerhard Plankensteiner (Italy). „As we had kind of messed up the first run, the third rank was a big surprise for us. We are very happy for Kurt Brugger and Wilfried Huber, who have not won a race for such a long time.“
Patric Leitner: „I am not unhappy about our second rank. If we had had more second ranks during this season we would have been able to defend the Overall World Cup.“
One week before the World Championships: Hackl`s first victory in this season
Lake Placid. One week before the World Championships in Calgary/ Canada, Georg Hackl (Germany) is back. At the finals of the Viessmann luge World Cup in Lake Placid (state of New York, USA), the three time Olympic champion won with a total time of 1:40.047 minutes, in front of Italy’s Armin Zöggeler (1:40.120) and his team-mate Karsten Albert (1:40.492). After his last victory one year ago at the World Cup finals in Oberhof/ GER, it was Hackl’s 23rd World Cup victory.
With this success, Hackl, who had not competed at last year’s Goodwill Games in Lake Placid due to problems with his equipment, finished at rank two of the Overall World Cup rating (550 points) behind Armin Zöggeler (700), whose Overall World Cup victory was definite even before the race. With 525 points, the Austrian Markus Prock (525) takes the third position in the Overall World Cup rating.
Opinions:
Georg Hackl (Germany): „I am very happy about this victory. Last year I was called unfair because I considered the track too dangerous and did not start at the Goodwill Games. This really hurt me. Today’s result was the right answer to this accuse.“
Armin Zöggeler (Italy): „As always before the season’s most important race, Georg Hackl starts to be in great form. For me he is one of the favorites at the Calgary World Championships. Even though I won there last year, it is not really my sort of track.“
Karsten Albert (Germany): „I am very happy with this result. I am a bit resentful of the fact that once again I am only fourth of the Overall World Cup rating. Next year I want to be of the party at the awards ceremony.“
