German Women Sweep FIL Opener in Igls

November 24, 2018 ken Luge News, News 0

From Igls, AUT

(Nov. 24, 2018) – Natalie Geisenberger picked up where she left off at the 2018 Olympic Games, winning gold and leading a German sweep of the podium in Igls.

The 2018 Olympic double gold medalist trailed teammate Julia Taubitz coming into the second heat. While Geisenberger was nearly flawless, Taubitz made one small mistake at the start, giving Geisenberger the advantage and eventually a .036 second victory.

Natalie Geisenberger (Courtesy FIL TV)

Taubitz and Tatjana Hüfner finished second and third, respectively, with Russian Tatyana Ivanova, Italian Andrea Vötter and American Summer Britcher rounding out the top six.

The middle of the pack saw some big moves, with Vötter moving up from tenth to fifth and Viktoriia Demchenko moving from 14th to 7th. The biggest mover of the event, though, was Dajana Eitberger. She struggled in her first run with two big skids both in and out of the Kreisel turn, leaving her 20th. Her second run was the fastest of the second heat, and moved her up 12 positions to eighth.

Like many of the national teams after an Olympics, the Canadian squad is looking at a rebuilding year for their women’s program. The young Canadian women struggled to put two runs together, with Carolyn Maxwell leading the way in 19th with two relatively consistent runs.  Teammate Brooke Apshkrum finished one spot behind her in 20th, while Makena Hodgson crashed in her first World Cup run, finishing 28th.

For the Americans, Raychel Germaine just missed the top 15 and a slot in the Sprint World Cup race on Sunday by .007 seconds. She finished 16th, just a fraction of a second behind Latvian Eliza Cauce. Teammate Brittney Arndt finished one spot behind her in 17th.

Results:

Pos Name Nation Bib Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Total
1 Natalie Geisenberger GER 28 2.122 2.131 39.769 39.850 1:19.619
2 Julia Taubitz GER 21 2.129 2.141 39.745 39.910 1:19.655
3 Tatjana Hüfner GER 24 2.105 2.097 39.892 39.993 1:19.885
4 Tatyana Ivanova RUS 26 2.101 2.097 39.956 39.990 1:19.946
5 Andrea Vötter ITA 22 2.109 2.109 40.032 39.962 1:19.994
6 Summer Britcher USA 27 2.126 2.125 39.991 40.023 1:20.014
7 Viktoriia Demchenko RUS 18 2.138 2.140 40.058 39.995 1:20.053
8 Dajana Eitberger GER 23 2.125 2.127 40.215 39.843 1:20.058
9 Kendija Aparjode LAT 19 2.140 2.135 40.019 40.082 1:20.101
10 Birgit Platzer AUT 17 2.129 2.143 40.003 40.104 1:20.107
11 Madeleine Egle AUT 12 2.099 2.105 40.061 40.065 1:20.126
12 Ekaterina Baturina RUS 15 2.133 2.131 39.967 40.177 1:20.144
13 Ekaterina Katnikova RUS 13 2.142 2.141 40.039 40.134 1:20.173
14 Raluca Stramaturaru ROU 16 2.132 2.158 40.015 40.163 1:20.178
15 Eliza Cauce LAT 20 2.125 2.122 40.035 40.153 1:20.188
16 Raychel Germaine USA 8 2.133 2.138 40.051 40.144 1:20.195
17 Brittney Arndt USA 11 2.131 2.138 40.079 40.140 1:20.219
18 Ulla Zirne LAT 14 2.149 2.158 40.137 40.210 1:20.347
19 Carolyn Maxwell CAN 7 2.134 2.137 40.155 40.258 1:20.413
20 Brooke Apshkrum CAN 10 2.167 2.155 40.256 40.192 1:20.448
21 Katarina Simonakova SVK 2 2.124 2.126 40.243 40.211 1:20.454
22 Natalie Maag SUI 9 2.144 2.145 40.221 40.240 1:20.461
23 Sandra Robatscher ITA 25 2.118 2.103 40.115 40.485 1:20.600
24 Ewa Kuls-Kusyk POL 1 2.152 2.154 40.324 40.279 1:20.603
25 Natalia Wojtusciszyn POL 5 2.163 2.153 40.357 40.255 1:20.612
26 Anna Saulite AUT 4 2.164 2.156 40.351 40.265 1:20.616
27 Kyla Marie Graham CAN 6 2.124 2.121 40.233 40.489 1:20.722
28 Makena Hodgson CAN 3 2.137 2.156 75.882 40.663 1:56.545