From Durham, USA
Mar. 3, 2020 – Below are the final points across doubles, men’s, and women’s luge as well as the Team Relay. “Finishes” is the number events where a finish was recorded (no DNFs, DSQs or otherwise are counting).
Doubles Luge
Like all of the disciplines this season, the final points in doubles luge came down to the final race of the season in Königssee. Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken held a ten point lead over teammate Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt going into the final race of the season, and the teams were separated by only .081 going into the final heat of the season. While both teams were nearly flawless on their final run of the season, Eggert and Benecken had the faster time to win gold in Königssee and the overall World Cup title ahead of teammates Wendl and Arlt.
The Latvian duo of Andris and Juris Sics finished the season solidly in third, 90 points ahead of the Russian team of Aleksandr Denisev and Vladislav Antonov. Oskars Gudramovics and Peteris Kalnins finished the season in fifth, just one point ahead of Robin Geueke and David Gamm in sixth.
Canadians Tristan Walker and Justin Snith competed in all but three events, with two fifth place finishes to their name to place them in 14th overall. The American team of Chris Mazdzer and Jayson Terdiman only entered seven races, and finished six of them. In Königssee, they finished seventh for the United States’ best doubles finish there in over a decade, giving them a 20th place finish overall.
The Austrian team of Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller were among the favorites to contend for the overall title, but the team was sidelined halfway through the season due to a broken tibia and fibula that Steu suffered in a training accident. They still finished the season seventh overall with a gold, a silver, and two bronze medals to their name.
| Pos | Name | Nation | Finishes | Best Finish | Worst Finish | Points |
| 1 | Eggert / Benecken | GER | 11 | 1 (Igls, Whi, Whi-S, Kön) | 8 (Lillehammer) | 872 |
| 2 | Wendl / Arlt | GER | 11 | 1 (LP, Obe) | 7 (Alt, Lil) | 847 |
| 3 | Sics / Sics | LAT | 12 | 1 (LP-S, Sig) | 19 (Lillehammer) | 720 |
| 4 | Denisev / Antonov | RUS | 12 | 1 (Lil, Win) | 13 (Königssee) | 630 |
| 5 | Gudramovics / Kalnins | LAT | 12 | 4 (Oberhof) | 15 (Sigulda-S) | 543 |
| 6 | Geueke / Gamm | GER | 11 | 3 (Oberhof) | 18 (Igls) | 542 |
| 7 | Steu / Koller | AUT | 7 | 1 (Altenberg) | 7 (Whistler-S) | 486 |
| 8 | Yuzhakov / Prokhorov | RUS | 1 | 3 (Lillehammer) | 13 (Oberhof) | 476 |
| 9 | Rieder / Kainzwaldner | ITA | 9 | 2 (Sigulda-S) | 13 (Sigulda) | 466 |
| 10 | Kashkin / Korshunov | US | 10 | 3 (Whi, Whi-S) | 20 (Oberhof) | 456 |
Women’s Luge
Like in doubles luge, the women’s overall title came down to one of the final runs of the season. Russia’s Tatyana Ivanova carried a 27 point lead over Germany’s Julia Taubitz going into Königssee and needed to finish either ahead or one position behind Taubitz to win the Crystal Globe. Taubitz went into the final heat in second, .02 ahead of Ivanova in third. Ivanova struggled on her final run of the season, setting only the 11th fastest time of the race. Taubitz answered with a smooth and consistent run to put her four positions ahead of the Russian, enough to win the overall title, her first. Ivanova finished the season in second, well ahead of teammate Viktoriia Demchenko in third.
Germany’s Anna Berreiter finished a breakout season in fourth place on the strength of two gold medals in her final three races. The United States’ Summer Britcher finished the year in fifth despite missing three races, while Russia’s Ekterina Katnikova finished the year in sixth.
Despite finishing her season early due to injury, Emily Sweeney finished the year in 12th. Teammates Ashley Farquharson and Brittney Arndt finished 17th and 21st, respectively.
Canada sat out a handful of races over the back part of the 2019/2020 season, and despite that Carolyn Maxwell finished 19th on the year.
| Pos | Name | Nation | Finishes | Best Finish | Worst Finish | Points |
| 1 | Julia Taubitz | GER | 12 | 1 (LP, LP-S, Alt, Sig, Sig-S | 6 (Whistler-S) | 965 |
| 2 | Tatyana Ivanova | RUS | 12 | 1 (Igl, Whi, Whi-S, Lil) | 8 (Lake Placid) | 957 |
| 3 | Viktoriia Demchenko | RUS | 12 | 12 (Igls) | 2 (Sigulda-S) | 722 |
| 4 | Anna Berreiter | GER | 12 | 1 (Obe, Kön) | 15 (Lake Placid) | 637 |
| 5 | Summer Britcher | USA | 9 | 2 (Igl, Lil) | 28 (Whistler) | 523 |
| 6 | Ekaterina Katnikova | RUS | 12 | 4 (Altenberg) | 29 (Königssee) | 519 |
| 7 | Andrea Vötter | ITA | 11 | 3 (Altenberg) | 19 (Oberhof) | 486 |
| 8 | Kendija Aparjode | LAT | 12 | 4 (Sigulda-S) | 27 (Igls) | 457 |
| 9 | Eliza Cauce | LAT | 11 | 1 (Winterberg) | 23 (Igls) | 456 |
| 10 | Cheyenne Rosenthal | GER | 10 | 3 (Whistler-S) | 23 (Lillehammer) | 396 |
Men’s Luge
The men’s luge race was the tightest battle on tour. After sitting out the penultimate race in Winterberg, Russia’s Roman Repilov held a one point advantage over Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller going into Königssee. Just like in both the women’s and doubles races, the two men were separated by just one position going into the final heat. Fischnaller’s second run wasn’t perfect, leaving him in fifth position in the race. Repilov’s second run was the fastest of the race, enough to keep him ahead of Fischnaller and give him the title. Fischnaller finished the season in second place, 16 points back.
Semen Pavlichenko finished the season in third on the strength of two gold medals and two silver medals.
Johannes Ludwig won three gold medals on his way to fourth overall, just ahead of Austria’s Jonas Müller. Müller started the season strong with a pair of gold medals coupled with two bronze medals, but was unable to keep up the results as the tour wound its way through Germany and Latvia. Olympic champion David Gleirscher finished the season in sixth.
American Tucker West finished his season in 13th place despite missing two starts. He was three spots ahead of Chris Mazdzer. Mazdzer sat out most of the second half of the season fighting injury. Jonny Gustafson tied Austria’s Nico Gleirscher for 20th on the season.
Reid Watts was the top Canadian in 26th place, starting half of the races on tour in the 2019/2020 season.
| Pos | Name | Nation | Finishes | Best Finish | Worst Finish | Points |
| 1 | Roman Repilov | RUS | 11 | 1 (LP-s, Whi) | 12 (Sigulda-S) | 765 |
| 2 | Dominik Fischnaller | ITA | 11 | 1 (Lillehammer) | 9 (Oberhof) | 749 |
| 3 | Semen Pavlichenko | RUS | 12 | 1 (Sig-S, Kön) | 12 (Whi, Win) | 741 |
| 4 | Johannes Ludwig | GER | 12 | 1 (Obe, Win) | 15 (Igls) | 645 |
| 5 | Jonas Mülle | AUT | 10 | 1 (Igl, LP) | 32 (Altenberg) | 556 |
| 6 | David Gleirscher | AUT | 10 | 1 (Altenberg) | 21 (Lake Placid) | 549 |
| 7 | Felix Loch | GER | 10 | 2 (Whistler) | 27 (Sigulda) | 482 |
| 8 | Reinhard Egger | AUT | 11 | 1 (Whistler-S) | 25 (Lillehammer) | 464 |
| 9 | Max Langenhan | GER | 12 | 6 (Altenberg) | 12 (Igl, Lil, Obe) | 462 |
| 10 | Kristers Aparjods | LAT | 11 | 2 (Winterberg) | 31 (Igl, Sig) | 456 |
Team Relay
The Team Relay points didn’t seem as though they would turn out that close. Italy held a decent lead going into the final race in Königssee and they’d just seen Russia come down in third with only themselves to go. Needing to finish ninth or better in the ten team field to win the title outright, Italy’s doubles team struggled and reduced the team to tenth in the race. That finish, coupled with Russia’s bronze medal, left them tied with the Russians for the World Cup title.
Germany finished the season in third, 16 points back, after skipping the race in Winterberg. Latvia, Austria, and Slovakia rounded out the top six on the season.
The United States did not start two races in the Relay season and finished seventh on the year, 7 points out of sixth.
| Pos | Nation | Finishes | Best Finish | Worst Finish | Points |
| 1 | Italy | 6 | 1 (Igls) | 10 (Königssee) | 431 |
| 2 | Russia | 6 | 1 (Alt, Win) | 7 (Igls) | 431 |
| 3 | Germany | 5 | 1 (Obe, Kön) | 4 (Lillehammer) | 415 |
| 4 | Latvia | 6 | 3 (Lil, Obe, Win) | 5 9Igl, Alt) | 380 |
| 5 | Austria | 4 | 1 (Lillehammer) | 7 (Oberhof) | 291 |
| 6 | Slovakia | 6 | 5 (Win, Kön) | 10 (Oberhof) | 277 |
| 7 | United States | 4 | 2 (Obe, Kön) | 6 (Igl, Alt) | 270 |
| 8 | Ukraine | 6 | 6 (Win, Kön) | 12 (Altenberg) | 249 |
| 9 | Poland | 5 | 4 (Winterberg) | 8 (Altenberg) | 237 |
| 10 | Cezch Republic | 4 | 7 (Königssee) | 12 (Igls) | 148 |
| 10 | Canada | 3 | 4 (Igls) | 8 (Oberhof) | 148 |
