Madeleine Egle with track record to home victory

Innsbruck (FIL/03 Dec 2022) With a track record run of 39,574 seconds in the first run Madeleine Egle (AUT) laid the foundations for her sixth World Cup victory. In the first race of the FIL EBERSPÄCHER Luge Women's World Cup, the 24-year-old succeeded on her home track against Emily Sweeney (USA, +0,216 sec.) and last year's overall World Cup winner Julia Taubitz (GER, +0,248 sec.). Less than half an hour after her premiere in the women's doubles World Cup, Sweeney showed that she is also a strong contender in the singles. Her doubles partner Summer Britcher finished ninth.

Egle's teammate Hannah Prock put in a fabulous run in the second run with 39.680 seconds and just missed the podium with fourth place (+0.386 sec.). Also shining with an impressive World Cup debut was 19-year-old Merle Fräbel of Germany. The 2020 Youth Olympic Games winner finished sixth, just one place behind Olympic silver medalist Anna Berreiter.

For the first time in two years, numerous spectators along the track cheered the lugers on. The most prominent one was Natalie Geisenberger. The six-time Olympic champion from Germany, who won a total of 52 luge World Cups and eight times the overall World Cup, will give birth to her second child early next year and will therefore not be at the start.

Quotes:

Madeleine Egle (AUT): “Unbelievable, I am mega happy. To be fastest feels great. In the second run, I hesitated for a short while at the start and only did three paddle strokes because I was a bit unsure. But after that I went full speed, everything worked and it turned out well. Let's see what turns out tomorrow, the start is a bit my strength after all, I will fight hard for it and hope to build on my performance today."

Emily Sweeney (USA): “In the second run I had a much better start, it was really fast and I am happy that I had a really good run. Today was the first time that I competed in both, women’s doubles and singles. Igls is a nice and easy track, and I am sure it will be more difficult on higher-pressure tracks, especially with me and my neck. Today was good, though, and I am happy with that.”

Julia Taubitz (GER): “I am satisfied that I could win a medal today. There was a lot of pressure on me after the Olympics. It was hard, but now I know that it is still possible. Tomorrow is a new day and then I will attack again. Madeleine has taken a big step forward again. I already noticed that in the summer when we saw each other. However, it is a lot of fun to challenge each other. I'm happy for her, but it's an encouragement for me to get even better.”

Merle Fräbel (GER): “I am very satisfied. It was a good race. I can still improve at the start, but I definitely didn't expect sixth place.”

The results of the 1st Women's World Cup of the 2022/23 season are available at the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-weltcup-19