“The always-laughing” Julia Taubitz in with a chance of a medal

Winterberg (RWH) Flashback: The 2015 Junior World Championships in Lillehammer, Norway. Julia Taubitz (Photo, left) is in third place after the first run, with gold still within reach as she is just a tenth of a second behind. But Taubitz completely flunks her second run and drops well down the order. But when she saw two flaming torches at the finish line she gave a heart-warming laugh. And was promptly reprimanded by a coach. “Julia, you should be getting off the sled in tears, not laughing,” she says, looking back. “But,” the fresh-faced athlete laughs, “life is so short there’s no point moping when things don’t going your way.”

And she’s right. And there’s certainly no talk of moping at the moment as Julia Taubitz has plenty to laugh about – this post-Olympic winter season has been her most successful yet. In Calgary, she took her first victory in the Viessmann Luge World Cup, and in Königssee she took advantage of the snowfall to win again. A mere onlooker at last year’s Winter Olympics, the 22-year-old is one of the top favourites going into the 48th World Championships of the International Luge Federation (FIL) on 26 January. “Of course I have my eye on a medal, it wouldn’t make sense not to after how this season has gone,” says a realistic Julia Taubitz, who has improved gradually from season to season in recent years.

She believes that “a lot of small things” were responsible for the significant increase. “I have more experience on each track. In general my athleticism has improved, I don’t have such a deficit.” Her move from Annaberg to Oberhof also played a role. In the name of love she moved from her home in the Ore Mountains to Oberhof in the Thuringian Forest. Taubitz is in a long-standing relationship with Toni Eggert, World Champion in doubles with partner Sascha Benecken.

“During the summer we never saw each other during the week and we said that had to change,” explains Taubitz. “Toni was the main reason.” As a side effect she is benefitting from the training of Oberhof base coach Jan Eichhorn and from the material skills of the local sled builder Robert Eschrich. Julia Taubitz: “He has built a super sled.” Of course Annaberg will always remain Taubitz’s home with family and friends, but she explains that Oberhof simply has better conditions for luge

Taubitz also reveals another tie to her homeland. The song “Die immer lacht” [She’s always laughing] was produced in the Ore Mountains. The song was written by the songwriter Kerstin Ott back in 2005, while the remix by the producer duo Stereoact (DJ Rixx alias Sebastian Seidel and DJ Ric aka Rico Einenkel, both from Annaberg) became the summer hit of the year 2016.  At least the title of the otherwise not so cheerful song is a good fit for Annaberg native Julia Taubitz, who is always laughing.