YANQING, China — On Saturday, Julia Taubitz secured the overall championship in women’s World Cup luge singles, continuing the dominant legacy of German sliders for the 27th consecutive year.
This remarkable streak was preserved with less than a second to spare.
Taubitz emerged victorious in the season’s final race, marking her third win during a nine-event season. This victory, coupled with Austria’s Madeleine Egle finishing in ninth place, propelled Taubitz to the top of the overall standings for the fifth time in six seasons.
Egle had the opportunity to secure the championship herself; if she had placed third in the race, she would have become the first non-German luge competitor to win the women’s World Cup since Italy’s Gerda Weissensteiner in the 1997-98 season.
However, Egle finished 0.794 seconds shy of that coveted third place, which ultimately determined the championship outcome. In the race results, Taubitz claimed first, with Natalie Maag of Switzerland finishing second, and Merle Fraebel of Germany taking third. The only American entry in the women’s singles finale, Ashley Farquharson, ended up in fifth place.
By the season’s end, Taubitz amassed a total of 657 points, while Egle followed with 629 points, and Austria’s Lisa Schulte finished in third with 620 points. Farquharson, who participated in all nine women’s singles events this season, concluded the overall standings in seventh place.
In the women’s doubles category, the Austrian duo of Selina Egle and Lara Kipp marked their dominance by achieving their seventh victory of the season, thus winning the World Cup title. Their season commenced with a sixth-place finish but rapidly gained momentum, culminating in seven wins and one second place in the last eight competitions.
German teammates Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal finished second in both the race and overall season standings, while Latvia’s Anda Upite and Zane Kaluma secured third in Saturday’s race. The American team of Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby placed fourth in the event and completed the season in third overall.
The men’s doubles finale is set for Sunday, with Germany’s Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt eyeing their sixth World Cup season title. The men’s singles event will also take place on Sunday, featuring Max Langenhan from Germany and Austria’s Nico Gleirscher as the two remaining athletes with a chance to claim the title.
Langenhan merely needs to finish seventh or higher to take the championship.
Looking ahead, the World Cup events will include men’s doubles, men’s singles, and team relays scheduled for Yanqing on Sunday, followed by the world championships in skeleton events for both men and women beginning on March 6 in Lake Placid, New York.
The bobsled competitions will kick off a couple of days later, starting on March 8 at the same venue.
