OBERHOF, Germany — Austrian luge athlete Madeleine Egle is making significant strides towards breaking a longstanding German stronghold in women’s World Cup luge, a dominance that has lasted for nearly 26 years.
Egle secured her fourth victory of the season on Saturday, increasing her lead in the overall points standings to 29 points ahead of Julia Taubitz from Germany as the season enters its final two races.
If Egle maintains her current performance, she will be the first woman from outside Germany to claim the overall World Cup title since Gerda Weissensteiner of Italy achieved this feat in the 1997-98 season. Egle has accumulated 544 points so far this season, while Taubitz, who has been dominating the scene with four out of the last five World Cup titles, trails with 515 points.
The results from Saturday’s race saw Egle in first place, followed by Taubitz in second, and Switzerland’s Natalie Maag finishing in third. The highest-ranked American competitor was Ashley Farquharson, who secured seventh place.
In the women’s doubles luge event, the Austrian duo of Selina Egle and Lara Kipp continued their impressive streak, claiming their sixth consecutive victory.
German teams took home the silver and bronze, with Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal finishing in second place for the sixth time in seven races this season, while Dajana Eitberger and Magdalena Matschina earned their best finish of the season by taking third.
The top American team, consisting of Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirkby, placed fifth in the doubles event.
In the men’s doubles luge competition, the German pair of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt secured their third victory in the last four events.
The second position was claimed by their fellow countrymen, Hannes Orlamuender and Paul Gubitz, while Austrian competitors Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl rounded out the top three. The best performance for the U.S. men’s doubles team came from Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa, who finished in eighth place.
In bobsled action taking place in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the U.S. achieved notable success in the women’s monobob event, winning both gold and silver for the second consecutive day.
Elana Meyers Taylor clinched the gold once again, while Kaysha Love improved her performance to secure the silver medal. Laura Nolte from Germany finished in third place.
In the four-man race that followed, British driver Brad Hall took home the win, with Germany’s Francesco Friedrich and Johannes Lochner finishing second and third, respectively. For the U.S., Frank del Duca placed 11th.
Looking ahead, the bobsled championships will continue with the two-woman and four-man events scheduled for Sunday in St. Moritz, while the luge World Cup will feature men’s singles, mixed doubles, and mixed singles events in Oberhof on the same day.
The skeleton season finale for men’s, women’s, and mixed teams is set to occur on February 7 in Lillehammer, Norway.
