Brilliant luge competitions on the first day of the Youth Olympic Winter Games Gangwon 2024
Antonia Pietschmann and Brunner / Weissensteiner win the Gold

Gangwon (FIL/20 Jan 2024) The first day of competition at the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games in South Korea provided the perfect setting for captivating luge competitions, with the women's singles and men's doubles battling it out for the coveted medals in persistent snowfall and -2 degrees Celsius.

Antonia Pietschmann dominates.

The women's singles delivered an impressive performance at the Alpensia Sliding Center, the Olympic ice track at PyeongChang 2018. Antonia Pietschmann showed her dominance in a tough competition. The 17-year-old German was the fastest luger from start to finish in both runs and confidently took the gold medal in a total time of 1:35.774 minutes. Her fast start and precise racing line took her to the top of the podium, where she beamed in front of an enthusiastic audience. "My training here was mixed. I had fast runs, but there were also a few training runs that went wrong. I tried to concentrate on the good runs. It was very cold today, a lot of snow but the atmosphere was sensational. I am very happy with my gold medal. It motivates me a lot that I was able to win a medal. It's a dream come true to win gold. And I have received a nice confirmation of my hard work and now I know how I want to continue. It's great motivation," said youth Olympic champion Pietschmann:

Alexandra Oberstolz from Italy also showed great skill and fought her way to the silver medal. The 16-year-old daughter of two experienced lugers showed two great runs through the 2028 Olympic ice track and finished 0.552 seconds behind Pietschmann. While Marie Riedl from Austria secured the bronze medal with an eighth and ninth start time and outstanding runs (1.154 seconds behind gold).

"I knew that if I could manage two clean runs, I had a chance of making the podium. I had some problems at the start in the first run. I was able to fix that in the second run and that makes me happy. The runs were perfect. I couldn't have done any better," said Alexandra Oberstolz and was delighted with silver: "This is the most important medal I've ever won and I already have a Junior World Championship medal. I've waited so long for this Youth Olympic competition that I can't believe I'm here now and have actually won a medal. The medal really motivates me to give even more in the next training sessions and races. One of my big goals now is to take part in the Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina. I don't know how good my chances are, but I will give everything to achieve this goal!"

Bronze medal winner Marie Riedl said: "In the first run, I was a little late into turn 13 and was definitely able to improve on the second run. I'm happy with my performance on the track. It was a great experience to be here at the YOG and then to go home with the bronze medal, that's something cool. I am very proud. I wasn't expecting a medal beforehand, my goal was to finish in the top 5, but a medal is a sign that everything is achievable and it's great motivation for me for the next races, even if things don't go so well in training."

The competitions of the 30 participating young women in the singles were characterized by breathtaking moments and proved the enormous talent of the young lugers from 21 nations. Only one starter was unable to reach the finish in the second run.

Brunner / Weissensteiner win gold in the doubles.

The doubles races for the young men took place after the women's singles. The snowfall continued and the track workers at the "Alpensia Olympic Sliding Center" did a great job. Twelve luge duos from eleven nations battled for victory on the icy track at minus two degrees Celsius below zero. The doubles team of Philipp Brunner and Manuel Weißensteiner took the lead in the first run with the only start time under six seconds and an almost flawless run. In the second run, the second run time was enough for the young Italians and they secured the gold medal with a total time of 1:34.283 minutes.

In the second run with the fastest start and finish time, the young Latvians Janis Gruzdulis-Borovojs and Eden Eduards Cepulis secured the silver medal 0.432 seconds behind gold. The doubles competition requires impressive teamwork and perfect synchronization and so Lous Grünbeck and Maximilian Kürt from Germany won the bronze medal (0.793 seconds behind), with an impressive speed of over 103 km/h, which otherwise only the winners Brunner/Weißensteiner achieved.

The doubles races impressed with the athletic performances at the start, which were particularly in demand at the flat start at turn six at the Alpensia Sliding Center.

Philipp Brunner said: "The race was pretty good. We had a really good start time in the first run, which was very important. The second run wasn't quite as fast, but on the whole I'm very happy. We had already won here last year in the Continental Cup. But over the summer we were able to improve a lot again, especially at the start, which is particularly important here. When you experience the Youth Olympic Games, you know it would be a big dream to come to Milan-Cortina."

Manuel Weißensteiner: "It was great. I am very happy. The first start was very good and the runs were also quite good. When we crossed the finish line in the second run, we were so happy. That was incredible."

But the bronze medal winners were also happy and immediately analyzed their runs at the finish. Louis Grünbeck said: "The first run was relatively good. Except for turn 16, where we slipped slightly. But overall we are satisfied. We've never been here in Korea before and only had six practice runs. The bronze medal is definitely a good result." And his doubles partner Maximilian Kührt added: "We weren't entirely satisfied in the first run, but overall the placing is good and we haven't had any experience on the track here before. Going back to Germany with a Youth Olympic medal is a big dream for us." But the man in front of him is already thinking ahead. "Now it's off to St. Moritz first. We have to be fast there and then we hope to qualify for the Junior World Championships in Lillehammer." And Maximilian Kührt sets the big goal: "We want to make it to the big Olympic Games one day. That's our long-term goal".