Vötter/Oberhofer win World Cup - Degenhardt/Rosenthal World Champions
Salzburg (FIL/11 May 2023) The 45th season of the FIL World Cup was also the second season with the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup in women's doubles. Luge fans all over the world were enthusiastic about this youngest discipline. Women's doubles from six nations won medals.
Italy topped the medals table with four gold, four silver and four bronze medals in twelve World Cup events. Austria came in second with four gold medals, but only two silver and one bronze. Germany took two victories and four silver and four bronze medals ahead of Latvia (2/1/2), USA (0/1/0) and Canada (0/0/1).
After the eighth stop of the World Cup in St. Moritz, the decision for the big crystal globe had already been made, at least as far as the victory was concerned. After winning the Sprint World Cup together with Egle/Kipp, Italy's Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer secured the overall World Cup victory with 1010 points ahead of Selina Egle and Lara Kipp (AUT, 915 p.) and Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal (GER, 898 p.). Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer also won the discipline World Cup and thus brought all three crystal globes to South Tyrol in their first season as doubles' team. "In the end it was only five points in the discipline World Cup. I think it's great that it was so exciting until the end. We can't stop smiling," said a happy Andrea Vötter.
Degenhardt/Rosenthal for the second time World Champions
Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal defended their women's doubles World Championship title on their home track in Oberhof, Germany, after winning the sprint gold medal the day before.
In 2022, the women's doubles will compete for the first time at the World Championships, and a year later, for the first time in front of IOC President Dr. Thomas Bach. Germany's Degenhardt-Rosenthal raced to their second consecutive World Championship title with twice the best time. "We did it with great confidence because we are here on a track where we feel at home. Before we only had World Cups abroad, now we started in front of a home crowd".
The title defense was not a foregone conclusion, as the 20-year-old from Saxony and the 22-year-old from North Rhine-Westphalia had been on the podium six times this season, but had never won a World Cup. With their sprint victory, the knot seemed to be broken. The next day they set track records in both runs and won with a total time of 1:17,619 ahead of Austria's Selina Egle and Lara Kipp (+0.126 sec.) and Italy's Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer (+0.187 sec.). "We are very happy. Thanks to the Oberhof crowd. The atmosphere is great. They cheer for everyone and that is a great experience for all athletes", said Marion Oberhofer.
Not only was it the same podium as in the sprint, but it was the same three women's doubles teams that have dominated the World Cup season. After the first run, all three were within 70 thousandths of each other, making for another exciting race. Latvia's Anda Upite and Sanija Ozolina were already far behind in fourth place. The young Italians Nadia Falkensteiner and Annalena Huber, who finished fourth in the sprint and fifth in the Olympic double event, caused a surprise, closely followed by the Americans Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby.
Just how young the discipline and its female athletes are can be seen in the fact that only three of the 15 sleds that started did not make it to the U23 World Championships. Degenhart/Rosenthal could also be happy about this title. Egle/Kipp (AUT) and Upite/Ozolina (LAT) completed the U23 podium.
