The 25th FIL World Championships in Natural Track Luge in Kühtai (AUT) promise high drama, with the favourites already making a statement in Friday’s training session.

Austria vs Italy will be one of the main battles for gold medals

Kühtai (FIL/17.01.2025) On the 795-metre natural luge track "Kühtai," two-time season winner Michael Scheikl (AUT) set  the fastest times in both training runs (56.39/56.65 seconds). Despite his 10 World Cup victories, European Championship title, and overall championship win, a World Championship title still eludes him. Close behind Scheikl were several Italian "Azzurri" athletes. Florian Clara, the winner of the Laas/Lasa (ITA) event, came within just 0.02 seconds of Scheikl in the second training run. Defending champion Alex Gruber (ITA) is now coaching on the track, having retired after securing the world title in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente (ITA) in 2023.

In the women’s singles, Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) dominated, finishing the first training run in a league of her own with a time of 57.40 seconds. She was followed by local favourite Riccarda Ruetz (AUT/+1.24 seconds) and Tina Unterberger (AUT/+1.84). In the second session, Lanthaler clocked 57.37 seconds, ahead of Unterberger (+1.15) and Ruetz (+1.28). Lanthaler could secure her fifth world title in the women’s singles on Sunday.

In the doubles, the best time in the first run (1:01.49 minutes) went to Matthias Lambacher/Peter Lambacher (ITA), followed by Maximilian Pichler/Nico Edlinger (AUT/+0.47 seconds) and Tobias Paur/Andreas Hofer (ITA/+0.58). In the second training run, Pichler/Edlinger were the fastest (1:01.08 minutes), ahead of Paur/Hofer (+0.74 seconds) and Lambacher/Lambacher (+1.09). Matthias Lambacher won the 2023 world title with his older brother Patrick. Since the 2023/2024 season, Matthias has formed a team with his younger brother Peter.

All races will be streamed live on the official website of the International Luge Federation (FIL).

Schedule
January 18th:
10:00 – 1st Run Men’s Singles
11:00 – 1st Run Women’s Singles
12:00 – 1st Run Doubles
12:45 – 2nd Run Women’s Singles
14:00 – Final Run Doubles, followed by the flower ceremony

January 19th:
08:30 – WM Mass
10:00 – 2nd Run Men’s Singles
11:15 – Final Run Women’s Singles, followed by the flower ceremony
12:00 – Final Run Men’s Singles, followed by the flower ceremony
13:30 – Team Event, followed by the flower ceremony
14:15 – Award Ceremonies for Doubles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Singles, and Team Event