Finally: Florian Clara achieves first World Cup victory

Beaming faces in the finish area of the “Gafair” track in Laas. Florian Clara (Campill) celebrated his first World Cup victory in the singles on Monday afternoon – after 18 years in the World Cup.

06 January 2025

From: sn

Patience is rewarded. At the age of 36, Florian Clara is on the top step of the podium in the single-seaters for the first time. After the first run, the experienced driver was in second place, just 0,11 seconds behind his former partner in the double-seater, Patrick Pigneter.

In the second run, Clara set the fastest time, while the half-time leader Pigneter fell back to sixth place in the final ranking. After an incredible 68 victories with Pigneter in the doubles, Clara also took her first World Cup victory in the singles. The Val Gardena native has been regularly at the front in the singles for several years now, finishing the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 World Cups in fourth place overall, and in the 2023/2024 season he was third overall. Clara made his World Cup debut in the doubles in the 2005/2006 season, and competed in his first World Cup races in the singles in 2006/2007.

"It took a while, but I'm glad that I finally managed to win. This time I had luck on my side," said "Flo" modestly as usual. The true sportsmanship was visible to everyone at the awards ceremony, competitors, coaches and companions were happy about the first winner Florian Clara.

Last year's winner Daniel Gruber (Schleis) came in second, with Michael Scheikl (AUT), who won the first two World Cups in Winterleiten (AUT) in December, coming in third. Scheikl leads the overall ranking with 270 points, ahead of Clara (230) and Alex Oberhofer (216).

Triple victory for the South Tyroleans

In the women's singles race, serial winner Evelin Lanthaler underlined her dominance. With the best time in both runs and a total time of 2.07,09:54 minutes, the reigning world champion celebrated her 1,65th World Cup victory, ahead of her teammates Daniela Mittermair (+2,01 seconds) and Nadine Staffler (+55). "The first run today was solid, but the second run was good. I feel in shape and am looking forward to the World Championships in two weeks," explained Lanthaler. In the all-time best list, Lanthaler is only one World Cup victory behind Ekaterina Lavrenteva (RUS/XNUMX victories).

The 17th World Championships in natural track luge will take place in Kühtai (AUT) from 19 to 25 January, followed by the World Cup in Mariazell (AUT) on 25/26 January.