The first raceday at the 24th FIL World Championships in natural track luge in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente (ITA) ended with a heart-stopping finale. In the doubles, the brothers Patrick and Matthias Lambacher (ITA) won the world championship title for the first time.

Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente (FIL/02/11/2023) In the first run, both the defending champions Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) and the leaders of the World Cup ranking, Patrick Lambacher/Matthias Lambacher (ITA) showed nerves. While Lambacher/Lambacher didn't bring a solid run on the ice right from the start, Pigneter/Clara made a serious mistake in the "valley curve" just before the finish line. In the end, Lambacher/Lambacher were 0.04 seconds ahead of Pigneter/Clara. The defending champions caught the second run without any mistakes, but Lambacher/Lambacher went all in and celebrated their first world championship title in 1:57.92 minutes. The brothers from the Villnöß valley completed the medal set at their third World Championships, after bronze in 2019 in Latzfons (ITA) and silver in 2021 in Umhausen (AUT). The reigning junior world champions from Slovenia, Matevz Vertelj/Vid Kralj, secured the bronze medal.

Lambacher/Lambacher on their gold-run

“That was a crazy race, we were totally unhappy with the first run and didn't think it would be enough to lead. The second run, on the other hand, was really good,” said Patrick Lambacher during the interview after the race. “We now have a complete set of medals at World Championships. This must be duly celebrated,” said Matthias Lambacher.
“Of course it's nice to win silver, even if we would have preferred gold. The mistake in the first run cost us a lot of time. Nevertheless, congratulations to Lambacher/Lambacher, they were simply faster in the second run,” said birthday boy Florian Clara in a sportingly fair manner.

Podium doubles (from left): Florian Clara/Patrick Pigneter (ITA), Patrick Lambacher/Matthias Lambacher (ITA) and Vid Kralj/Matevz Vertelj (SLO)

“A year ago we became junior world champions, now we have the bronze medal in the general class. That's just awesome," said Vid Kralj about the biggest success of his carreer so far.
After two of three runs in the women's singles, defending champion Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) leads in 1:50.62 minutes, ahead of her teammate Greta Pinggera (+0.86 seconds) and Tina Unterberger (AUT/+1.11).

“The first run was really bad, I felt pressure and wasn't loose. This is a world championship, things can happen there,” said Lanthaler, who seemed a lot more relieved in the second run.
In the men's singles, two runs are scheduled for Sunday. After the first run, Patrick Pigneter leads 0.11 seconds ahead of his teammate Alex Gruber (ITA). Behind them are defending champions Thomas Kammerlander (AUT) and Michael Scheikl (AUT), the two teammates are just 0.02 seconds apart.

The races on Sunday will be broadcast live on the homepage of the International Luge Federation FIL at www.fil-luge.org.

Here is the video with the highlights of day 1

Top 3 doubles
1. Patrick Lambacher/Matthias Lambacher (ITA) 1:57.92 minutes
2. Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) +0.28 seconds
3. Matevz Vertelj/Vid Kraj (SLO) +4.86 seconds

medal table
1. Italy 1/1/0
2. Slovenia 0/0/1

The program of the 24th Natural Track Luge World Championships 2023
Sunday February 12th
9 a.m.: 2nd run men’s singles
10 a.m.: Final run women’s singles, followed by flower ceremony
10.45 a.m.: Final run men’s singles, followed by flower ceremony
12.30 p.m.: Team competition, followed by flower ceremony and award ceremonies