World Cup gold in the sprint: Vötter/Oberhofer are at the top

The world championship races in artificial track tobogganing began in Altenberg on Friday. Some South Tyroleans also took part, and in the end they won a medal - a gold one.

26 January 2024

From: mv

The 52nd Luge World Championships on artificial track began with the sprint decisions in the Altenberg ice track. The tobogganers competed in both singles and doubles on Friday. The duo Andrea Vötter/Marion Oberhofer celebrated the biggest success of the day: they won the gold medal in the double sprint race. Behind the two were Upite/Kaluma in second place and Robezniece/Bogdanova in third place. The big favorites Egle/Kipp and Degenhardt/Rosenthal did not remain flawless in their rides and ended up in 8th and 14th place.

In the men's category, Latvians Martins Bots and Roberts Plume took first place. They won the sprint race by 0,032 seconds ahead of the two Austrian duos Steu/Kindl and Gatt/Schöpf. But the performance of the South Tyroleans can also be confidently assessed as strong: Nagler/Malleier narrowly missed the podium and finished in fourth place, Rieder/Kainzwaldner ended up right behind them in fifth place. Rieder/Gufler, however, finished the race in ninth place.

Individual race without medals

Sandra Robatscher was the best South Tyrolean in the individual sprints. The 28-year-old from Tiers took sixth place. Verena Hofer (Feldthurns) and Nina Zöggeler (also Tiers), however, landed in 12th and 15th place.

Sandra Robatscher was the best South Tyrolean among the women with 6th place. © ANSA / TOMS KALNINS

In the men's race, however, Leon Felderer from Latzfons failed to qualify and therefore did not make the decision. Dominik Firiegeller, on the other hand, survived the qualification. In the decision with the best 15 tobogganers, the 30-year-old from Meransen was doing well for a long time, but then he made a mistake and lost too much time. In the end he finished 13th.

The first and second races in the men's singles and doubles and the women's doubles will continue in Altenburg on Saturday. Some South Tyroleans will once again be fighting for medals.

Luge World Championships, the results

Sprint individual, women

Pos	Name	Country	Time
1.	Julia Taubitz	GER	37,702 sec
2.	Natalie Maag	SUI	+0,072
3.	Elina Ieva Vitola	LAT	+0,111
4.	Ashley Farquharson	USA	+0,152
5.	Kendija Aparjode	LAT	+0,152

6.	Sandra Robatscher	ITA/Tiers	+0,170
12.	Verena Hofer	ITA/Feldthurns	+0,263
15.	Nina Zöggeler	ITA/Tiers	+0,313

Sprint doubles, women

Pos	Name	Country	Time
1.	Vötter/Oberhofer	ITA/Völs, Rodengo	28,421 sec
2.	Upite/Kaluma	LAT	+0,017
3.	Robezniece/Bogdanova	YEARS IN	+0,046
4.	Chan/Hamlet	USA	+0,061
5.	Eitberger/Schirmer	GER	+0,085

Sprint individual, men

Pos	Name	Country	Time
1.	David Gleirscher	TUE	33,001 sec
2.	Max Langenhan	GER	+0,070
3.	Kristers Aparjods	LAT	+0,123
4.	Felix Loch	GER	+0,163
5.	Wolfgang Kindl	TUE	+0,238

13.	Dominik Filehner	ITA/Meransen	+0,798

Sprint doubles, men

Pos	Name	Country	Time
1.	Bots/Plume	LAT	27,863 sec
2.	Tax/children	TUE	+0,032
3.	Gatt/creature	TUE	+0,110
4.	Nailer/Painter	ITA/Campill, Völlan	+0,135
5.	Rieder Emanuel/Kainzwaldner	ITA/Meransen, Villanders	+0,169

9.	Rieder Ludwig/Gufler	ITA/	+0,360