Junior World Cup inspires in the VELTINS-EisArena Winterberg: Anka Jänicke and Noah Kallan take gold in the singles

Winterberg (FIL/21 Dec 2024) The VELTINS-EisArena Winterberg was the venue for the third FIL Junior Luge World Cup on December 20-21, 2024.

Noah Kallan of Austria won the men's singles with a total time of 1:51.682. Kallan, who won the FIL Nations Cup in Oberhof a week earlier, delivered consistently strong runs that demonstrated his skill and composure under pressure. The young luger from Salzburg clocked a time of 55.783 seconds in his second run, the fastest of the day, and secured the gold medal in a hard-fought race.

The German Marco Leger thrilled the home crowd with his performance and took second place, just 0.020 seconds behind Kallan. Leger's first run time of 55.856 seconds was the best at halftime. With the third runtime in the second heat, the young Bavarian secured a position on the podium. The bronze medal went to Leon Haselrieder of Italy. The winner of the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics achieved a total time of 1:51.977, 0.295 seconds behind the leader.

Women's doubles: German duo triumphs

In the women's competition, Sarah Pflaume and Lina Peterseim of Germany just managed to beat their Italian rivals Oberstolz/Kofler with a total time of 1:36.434 minutes. After a close first run, Pflaume and Peterseim improved in the second run, where they impressed with consistently strong times and the highest final speed of 121.2 km/h.

Second place went to Alexandra Oberstolz and Katharina Kofler of Italy. They finished just 0.055 seconds behind the winning Germans with a time of 1:36.489 minutes. The duo from South Tyrol had the best time in the first run. However, minor inaccuracies by Oberstolz/Kofler in the second run prevented them from mounting a challenge. The German duo Lilly Bierast and Leandra Claus secured third place with a time of 1:36.648 minutes. Despite two consistent runs, they ultimately missed out on victory by 0.214 seconds.

Men's doubles: photo finish for German one-two

The men's competition was a heart-stopping final, in which the German doubles teams Louis Grünbeck and Maximilian Kührt and Silas Sartor and Liron Raimer delivered a neck-and-neck race. If there were a photo finish in luge, it would certainly have been necessary here. In the end, the two teams were only 0.002 seconds (two thousandths) apart.

Grünbeck and Kührt secured the victory with a total time of 1:34.197 minutes, with the second run in particular, with a time of 46.939 seconds, being the deciding factor. The winning duo also achieved the top speed of 123.7 km/h in the second run. The Latvian duo Raimonds Baltgalvis and Uldis Jakseboga completed the podium. With a total time of 1:34.639 minutes, they also put in strong performances, but were unable to challenge the two top German duos.

On the second day of competition at the third Junior World Cup in Winterberg on December 21, 2024, the German junior national team continued their winning streak. With a one-two in the women's singles and a victory in the team competition, the German junior talents underlined their dominance on their home track.

Women's singles: Anka Jänicke ahead of Josephine Buse

In the women's single, Anka Jänicke of Germany triumphed for the third time in the third Junior World Cup of the season with a total time of 1:27.537 minutes, just ahead of her teammate Josephine Buse, who finished second with 1:27.571 minutes. Jänicke impressed in the first heat in particular, setting the fastest time of 43.665 seconds to lay the foundation for her victory. In the second heat, she defended her lead despite slower times. Buse, who shone in the second heat with an outstanding time of 43.811 seconds, finished just 0.034 seconds behind Jänicke. Third place went to Embyr-Lee Susko of Canada, who clocked 1:27.734 minutes. The young athlete from British Columbia secured a place on the podium with a strong performance in the second run and an impressive speed of 125.7 km/h at the finish line.

Team competition: Germany celebrates clear victory

In the team competition, the German team delivered an outstanding performance. The team, consisting of Anka Jänicke, Marco Leger and the doubles duo Louis Grünbeck and Maximilian Kührt, secured first place with a total time of 2:20.964 minutes. All German starters dominated their runs, with Grünbeck and Kührt in particular setting the best time of 46.845 seconds in the doubles.

Second place went to the Austrian team, which also put in solid performances with a total time of 2:22.103 minutes. The combination of Viktoria Gasser, Noah Kallan and the duo Scharnagl/Schiegl kept the competition at bay, but remained just over a second behind the Germans.

The Latvian team completed the podium with a time of 2:22.180 minutes and showed a strong performance, especially in the Women’s singles with Margita Sirsnina. The teams from the USA and Ukraine came in next.

Conclusion and outlook

The competitions in Winterberg offered exciting sport at the highest level. The third FIL Junior World Cup of the season was excellently prepared and carried out by the staff of the VELTINS-EisArena Winterberg. The athletes reached speeds of over 130 km/h on the technically demanding track.

All juniors are now taking a Christmas break and will then look ahead to the remaining three World Cup events in February 2025:

4th Junior World Cup on February 14-15, 2025 in Oberhof (GER)

5th Junior World Cup on February 27-28 and 6th Junior World Cup on March 1-2, 2025 in Sigulda (LAT)

Detailed results of the FIL Junior World Cup in Winterberg can be found under the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/3rd-junior-world-cup-5