Lugers collect last points for Olympic nomination in Latvia

Sigulda (FIL) From the almost summery green Winterberg in Germany, the world's best lugers travelled to the next World Cup stop in the wintery snow-covered Sigulda in Latvia. At the 7th stop of the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup from 7 to 9 January 2022, many nations and athletes are still hoping for the last points and quota places for the participation in the Olympic Winter Games starting on 4 February 2022 in Beijing (China).

168 athletes from 27 nations will compete in Latvia. 54 women and 52 men in the single-seater and 30 double-seater duos have registered.

The last World Cup race for the Olympic qualification will take place in Sigulda. In these three competitions in the disciplines women's and men's single seater as well as in the double seater, the last points for Olympic starting places could be collected.

The men's singles and doubles events are scheduled in Sigulda on Saturday, followed by the women's singles and Sprint Cup on Sunday.

Germany, Latvia and Austria favoured

Just like at the turn of the year: Johannes Ludwig was also the fastest on New Year's Day at the 6th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Winterberg (Germany). His team-mates Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt profited from the crashes of the doubles Eggert/Beneken and Sics/Sics, who were leading in the first run, and took the 46th World Cup victory. In the women's singles World Cup, the favourites prevailed. The EBERSPÄCHER Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW ended with a surprise. Three winners in the individual races do not automatically make up the fastest relay team. And so Latvia with Eliza Tiruma, Kristers Aperjods as well as Martins Bots and Roberts Plume came to a success ahead of Austria and the US team.

Winners 2021 from Russia, Latvia and Germany

At the last World Cup 2021 and at the same time the 52nd FIL European Luge Championships, Tatyana Ivanova (Russia), Felix Loch (Germany) and the brother duo Ardris and Juris Sics (Latvia) won. Finally, the Russian team took the victory in the relay. This will not be possible next weekend, because instead of the relay, the 3rd BMW Sprint World Cup will be held in Sigulda on Sunday afternoon.

Large and small crystal globe in the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup

The large crystal globe is awarded by the International Luge Federation FIL for the victory in the EBERSPÄCHER overall World Cup ranking of all 13 races. The winner in the disciplines women's single-seater, men's single-seater and double-seater is the one who achieves the most World Cup points from the classic EBERSPÄCHER World Cup (9 races) and the BMW Sprint World Cup (4 races).

After eight of 13 World Cup races in the Olympic winter, Julia Taubitz and Johannes Ludwig (both Germany) as well as the sibling duo Andris and Juris Sics from Latvia are leading the World Cup ranking in the doubles.

In addition, there will be a small crystal globe for the overall winners of the classic EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup (9 competitions) and the BMW Sprint World Cup (4 competitions).

On Sunday, 9 January 2022, the third of four BMW Sprint World Cups will take place in Sigulda, Latvia. Currently, Austria's Wolfgang Kindl, Julia Taubitz (GER) and the Sics brothers (LAT) in the doubles lead the BMW Sprint standings at the halfway stage.

The current overall World Cup standings are available at the following link: World Cup Overall Standings - https://www.fil-luge.org/en/overall-scores?event_season_id=29

Further information, training times and TV times of the 7th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Sigulda (LAT) as well as the detailed results after the races can be found at the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/eberspaecher-world-cup-13

All World Cup races can be followed in the FIL live stream (partly geo-blocked in Germany, Latvia and the USA). The current link to the Olympic Channel will be available from Thursday, 6 January on the FIL website at www.fil-luge.org .

Zitate vor dem 7. EBERSPÄCHER Rennrodel-Weltcup in Sigulda:

Kristaps Mauriņš, Team Manager and Coach Team Latvia: "Of course we expect a lot from the home races in Sigulda. It is always a very good feeling to start at home. There won't be any fans able to be at the track, but we know that they are watching on TV and cheering us on and keeping their fingers crossed for the Latvian team. On the one hand, of course, that puts extra pressure on us because everyone expects a good result. But on the other hand, it gives us a boost. The season so far has shown that we are ready for good results. 
It looks like it will be quite cold this weekend for the races. So I hope that the track conditions will be good and the same for all athletes and then we will try to do our best".

Andris Sics (LAT): "We are really looking forward to the race at home in Sigulda. It is our home track. It is a pity that there are no spectators this year. Normally there are a lot of fans, families, friends and supporters at the track. Now they have to watch in front of the TV and keep their fingers crossed for us. I hope the track is fast and we get a safe and fair race for everyone."

Juris Sics (LAT): "We have already looked at the weather forecast and it is supposed to be slightly below zero. Then we hope that will be the case for the races and we will have fair and good conditions. In any case, we have a lot of snow. So we hope that our friends from all over the world will appreciate the winter conditions and enjoy the races."

Sergey Chudinov, Headcoach Russia: „Sigulda is very close to our home. I very much like this track. It was the first track in my sports carreer and we feel like home there. It is very cosy and a high hospitality of local people. Our team will celebrate Orthodox Christmas in Sigulda. We have our small traditions. We make a celebration dinner for Christmas.

We hope to have good ice conditions and fair races for all people. It will be the last qualification race for the quota places to the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. After that we have to see how fit Tatyana Ivanova is again and who can be nominated for the Winter Olympics."

Jayson Terdiman (USA): "We definitely had the speed in Winterberg and we're looking forward to taking that momentum to Sigulda and seeing where we are at the end of the Olympic selection process."

Armin Zöggeler, Sport Director Italy: "Sigulda is a great track. Of course it suits one athlete more and another less. That's always the case. But the track is demanding and really great. We hope for exciting World Cup races next weekend".

Norbert Loch, Cheftrainer Deutschland: "Sigulda is a real luge track, even though in the meantime two-man bobsleigh World Cups are held there. For years I have been convinced that our athletes are able to master this demanding track in Latvia very well, because all of them have learned luge from scratch on technically interesting tracks like Oberhof or Königssee. The athletic challenge of the track in Sigulda is very high. Driving skills and athletic fitness are an important aspect and our athletes can do that. Therefore, we are looking forward to the 7th season World Cup in Latvia".

Natalie Geisenberger (GER): "Now Sigulda and Oberhof are two technically demanding tracks where you have to steer a lot. That usually suits me very well and I'm looking forward to it.

In the past we didn't have many races in Latvia, but in the meantime we have trained there a lot and raced there a lot, so we know the track very well and can be fast”.

Toni Eggert (GER): "Sigulda is a track we like very much. We have already had very nice and successful races there, but also crashes. It is a track that really has it all. Much to our delight, the weather in Sigulda is very wintry - low temperatures and fair conditions are to be expected. We are very much looking forward to Sigulda because it will really be a completely different act than in Winterberg."

Schedule 7th EBERSPÄCHER World Cup 2020/21 in Sigulda
and 3rd BMW Sprint World Cup Sigulda

(Local time Lettland, CET -1 hour, EST: -7 hours):

Friday, January 7th, 2022

09:00 Nations Cup, Doubles, Men, Women
Award Ceremony
14:30 Training Seeded Group (Men, Doubles, Women)

Saturday, January 8th, 2022
EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup

10.10  h         1st run Men‘s singles
11.45  h         2nd run Men‘s singles

13.30  h         1st run Doubles
14.50  h         2nd run Doubles

Sunday, January 9th, 2022
EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup

10.05 h          1st run Women
11.30 h          2nd run Women

BMW Sprint World Cup:
13.00 h           Men
13:45 h           Doubles
14.20 h           Women

Subject to change