At the 25th FIL World Championships in Natural Track Luge in Kühtai (AUT), the first medals were awarded on Saturday. Matthias Lambacher/Peter Lambacher (ITA) claimed their first gold medal in the doubles event.

Lambacher/Lambacher celebrating in the finish

Kühtai (FIL/18.01.2025) – The 730-metre-long natural luge track in Kühtai saw a nail-biting competition on Saturday. After the first run, Matthias Lambacher/Peter Lambacher held a slender lead of just 0.01 seconds over Maximilian Pichler/Nico Edlinger (AUT). In the second run, Pichler/Edlinger went all in, but a big mistake in a left-hand bend in the middle section cost the local heroes dearly. Despite an impressive final section, their total time of 2:01.60 minutes only secured the lead temporarily. Lambacher/Lambacher delivered a steady performance without significant errors and ultimately celebrated their first gold medal with a 0.26-second advantage. The bronze medal went to Tobias Paur/Andreas Hofer (ITA, +1.48 seconds).

(from left) Nico Edlinger/Maximilian Pichler (AUT), Matthias Lambacher/Peter Lambacher (ITA) and Tobias Paur/Andreas Hofer (ITA)

"The competition was fierce; we knew it would be close. Standing here with Peter now is simply fantastic," said Matthias Lambacher, celebrating his second world title. In 2023, he won gold in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente (ITA) as a backman with his brother Patrick. "I’m speechless. We had a very challenging start to the season, so to deliver here is just incredible," exclaimed Peter Lambacher after his first gold medal.

"We hit that one bump—it can happen so quickly, and that’s where we lost so much time," explained Pichler, reflecting on their mistake. "Without the error, we probably would have won. It would have been amazing. It was a tough battle with Lambacher/Lambacher," said a disappointed Edlinger.

Lanthaler Leads After Two Runs

Unlike the World Cup, World Championships are decided over three runs. In the women’s singles, the first two runs took place on Saturday. As expected, defending champion Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) leads with a combined time of 1:54.73 minutes, followed by local athlete Riccarda Ruetz (AUT, +0.76 seconds) and Nadine Staffler (ITA, +1.37 seconds). For Lanthaler it would be the 5th goldmedal.

In the men’s singles, veteran Michael Scheikl (AUT) leads after one of three runs with a time of 56.01 seconds, ahead of Daniel Gruber (ITA, +0.37) and Patrick Pigneter (ITA, +0.56). Scheikl is chasing his first goldmedal at world championships.

Sunday’s medal events will be broadcast live on the FIL International Luge Federation’s website.

Medal Table (1/4)
1.    Italy 1/0/1
2.    Austria 0/1/0

Schedule
January 19th:
8:30 AM – World Championship Mass
10:00 AM – 2nd Run Men’s Singles
11:15 AM – Final Run Women’s Singles, followed by Flower Ceremony
12:00 PM – Final Run Men’s Singles, followed by Flower Ceremony
1:30 PM – Team Event, followed by Flower Ceremony
2:15 PM – Medal Ceremonies for Doubles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Singles, and Team Event