Barbara Allmaier, Grancagnolo, Eitberger/Matschina and Mueller/Haugsjaa the fastest at the Nations Cup in Lillehammer

Lillehammer (FIL/29 Nov 2024) The first FIL Nations Cup of the 2024/25 season took place after more than four years on Friday, 29 November 2024, again at the only artificially refrigerated track in Scandinavia, the 1994 Olympic track in Lillehammer, Norway. At minus five degrees Celsius, the track conditions were excellent, which all the athletes have been praising throughout the training week.

The first winners of the season were convincing: Barbara Allmeier (AUT), Timon Grancagnolo (GER) and the doubles Dajana Eitberger/Magdalena Matschina in the women's event, and Marcus Mueller/Ansel Haugsjaa (USA) in the men's.

21-year-old Barbara Allmaier from Hall in Tirol won on the technically demanding ice track in Hunderfossen in the first Nations Cup of the season. With a time of 47.584 seconds, Allmaier relegated her team colleague Dorothea Schwarz (+0.029) and Canadian Caitlin Nash (+0.184) to second and third place. ‘We have been training here in Lillehammer for over a week now, so you can compare your times with the others and so we knew that we were doing quite well. It's especially nice to be on the podium with my roommate Dorothea and to be able to race with her in the first World Cup race,’ said Barbara Allmaier.

In the men's event, Timon Grancagnolo from Germany, also 21 years old, triumphed. With an impressive time of 48.797, the athlete from Chemnitz was only three hundredths of a second off the current track record. The sports soldier beamed: ‘Unfortunately, I was just short of the track record and that was due to the start today. I couldn't get my best performance out. But my ride was really good. At the start, I was a bit nervous again because it was my first competition, but I want to do better at the World Cup on Sunday. The US luger Jonathan Gustafson came in second in 48.846 seconds, with David Nössler (GER) taking third place in 48.911 seconds.

Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa were the fastest in the doubles competition. The two Americans set a new track record of 47.147 seconds. The record World Cup winner Toni Eggert from Germany came in second with his new teammate Florian Müller, 0.218 seconds behind, while the Italians Ivan Nagler and Fabian Malleier came in third, 0.381 seconds behind.

In the women's doubles, the German team world champion Dajana Eitberger, with new rear woman Magdalena Matschina, won in 47.892 seconds ahead of the young Latvians Robezniece / Bogdanova (+0.076) and the Italians Nadja Falkesteiner/Magdalena Huber (+0.634).

Detailed results and further information on the 1st EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup 2024/2025 in Lillehammer and on the Nations Cup as a qualifying round for the World Cup, are available at the following link:

Schedule
1st EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup, Lillehammer (NOR)
Local start time (CET/CET)

Saturday, 30 November 2024

09:10 hrs Women's doubles, 1st run
10:05 hrs Women's doubles, 2nd run

10:55 hrs Women's singles, 1st run
12:18 hrs Women's single, 2nd run

13:42 hrs Men's double, 1st run
14:56 hrs Men's double, 2nd run

Sunday, 1 December 2024

09:30 hrs Men's single, 1st run
10:55 hrs Men's single, 2nd run

12:10 hrs Mixed double
13:15 hrs Mixed single

Live broadcast of the EBERSPÄCHE World Cup:
https://www.youtube.com/@FILLuge_Channel and in Germany on ZDF