Nadia Falkensteiner and Annalena Huber impress in the doubles. © Michael Kristen / kristen-images.com / Michael Kristen

Winterberg: Strong South Tyrolean team in the Nations Cup

Two German teams, one Italian team and one Ukrainian team: The podiums at the Nations Cup, the opening event of the Luge World Cup in Winterberg, were a colorful mix.

09 January 2026

From: pm/sn

Anka Jänicke secured Germany's first victory in the women's singles with a best time of 58,096 seconds. She distanced South Tyrolean Alexandra Oberstolz and Canadian Embyr Lee-Susko by almost three-tenths of a second. Oberstolz was very pleased, saying: "My realistic goal was to finish in the top five so I'd have a good starting number for tomorrow's race. I didn't expect to finish second at all."

The men's podium featured a wealth of experience. The 37-year-old Ukrainian Andriy Mandziy won, ahead of the 44-year-old Slovakian Jozef Ninis. Third place went to the 22-year-old American Matthew Greiner.

In the men's doubles, the favorites lived up to expectations. Hannes Orlamünder and Paul Gubitz, the reigning world champions, finished in a time of 44,082 seconds, ahead of the Polish duo Wojciech Chmielewski and Michal Gancarczyk, who had also won the first Nations Cup in Winterberg at the beginning of December. Third place went to the young South Tyrolean pair Philipp Brunner and Manuel Weissensteiner.

Alexandra Oberstolz (left) took second place in the singles competition. © Michael Kristen / kristen-images.com / Michael Kristen

In the women's doubles, the South Tyrolean duo of Nadia Falkensteiner and Annalena Huber took the victory, ahead of the Romanian pair of Raluca Stramaturaru and Mihaela-Carmen, and the Austrian duo of Lina Riedl and Anna Lerch. The Italians' lead was a mere 0,023 seconds. The women's and men's singles races will continue on Saturday from midday onwards.