Sigita Berzina, Gints Berzins and DiGregorio/Hollander in the lead

Oberhof (FIL/09. Feb. 2024) The Latvian lugers Sigita Berzina and Gints Berzins as well as the US doubles Zachary DiGregorio and Sean Hollander impressed with their victories in the Nations Cup at the start of the EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup weekend in the LOTTO ThüringenEisArena on Friday, February 9, 2024.

In the men's singles, Gints Berzins (43.388 seconds) lived up to his reputation as an outstanding luge athlete, confidently taking first place in difficult conditions with persistent rain and sub-zero temperatures. "I like Oberhof, it's my favorite track. My start was good today and the run had some small mistakes, but it was fun and of course with my early start number I had better ice than some others. That made it easier for me to win. I'm really looking forward to the World Cup on Sunday," said Berzins. Jozef Ninis (43.688) from Slovakia and Ukraine's Anton Dukach (43.732) completed the podium at the sixth FIL Nations Cup of the season.

Sigita Berzina (42.514 seconds) won the women's race and secured her second Nations Cup victory after last week's win in Altenberg, Germany. The 23-year-old Latvian impressed ahead of Italy's Nina Zöggeler (42.831) and Canada's Trinity Ellis (43.042).

The Americans Zachary DiGregorio and Sean Hollander (42,276 seconds) won the doubles competition and celebrated their second Nations Cup victory of the season after their World Cup victory at the beginning of the season. Latvia's Eduards Sevics-Mikelsevics and Lukass Krasts (42,352) had to settle for second place. Germany's additional starters Max Ewald and Jakob Jannusch (43.553) were the last to secure third place, pushing Korea's Jinyoung Park and Jung Cho into fourth place (42.583).

Women's doubles is the newest discipline in the EBERSPAECHER World Cup. It will be on the program for the first time in February 2026 at the Olympic Winter Games in Milan-Cortina. None of the women's doubles had to compete in the Nations Cup on February 9, 2024 in Oberhof to qualify for the World Cup. Twelve teams have qualified for the World Cup and will participate in the seeded group training on Friday, February 9, starting at 14:30.

With these outstanding results, Sigita Berzina, Gints Berzins and DiGregorio/Hollander have impressively proven that they are among the top lugers in their disciplines and are ready for exciting World Cup races this weekend. The Nations Cup opener in Oberhof promises to be an exciting race weekend with more thrilling duels in the LOTTO Thüringen EisArena.

After six of nine races, Nina Zoeggeler (ITA), Anton Dukach (UKR), Dana Kellogg/Frank Ike (USA) as well as Marta Robezniece and Kitija Bogdanova in the women's doubles are leading in the overall standings of the 2023/2024 FIL Nations Cup.

Schedule & TV Coverage

6th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup, Oberhof (GER)
Local start time (CET/MEZ)

Friday, February 09, 2024

14:30 Training Seeded Group

Saturday, February 10, 2024

09:30 a.m. Men's Doubles 1st Run
10:18 a.m. Women's Doubles 1st Run
11:15 Men's doubles, 2nd heat
12:07 Women's doubles 2nd heat
13:05 Ladies, 1st heat
14:30 Ladies, 2nd heat

Sunday, February 11, 2024

10:00 a.m. Men's 1st heat
11:30 a.m. Men, 2nd heat
13:30 Team Relay

All information without guarantee!

Link to live TV coverage: fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-weltcup-33

Link to the athletes' biographies: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/athletes

Link to the FIL YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2Kk9l6zlkq--dtWBuHGfdA