Berreiter Wins Sigulda Gold

January 15, 2023 ken Luge News, News 0

From Sigulda, LAT

(January 15, 2023) – Like teammate Max Langenhan did a day prior, Germany’s Anna Berreiter came from behind to win gold in Sigulda.

L-R: Eitberger, Berreiter, Vitola (Courtesy FIL TV)

Berreiter entered the second heat of competition in seventh place. On her second run she put down what would be the second quickest run of the race to put herself into the lead ahead of teammate Julia Taubitz. She then watched as slider after slider tried to beat her downtime, but the combination of Berreiter’s quick slide and deteriorating track conditions gave Berreiter the gold, her first of the season.

Teammate Dajana Eitberger, the Sigulda track record holder and previous week’s winner, rallied from fifth to win silver, only .031 behind Berreiter for her fourth straight medal. She has yet to finish outside of second place since the tour pulled into Park City.

Elina Vitola finished third, up from sixth in the first heat. Her second run placed her only .006 behind Eitberger to give her a second straight women’s singles medal. She had won silver a week ago behind Eitberger.

Germany’s Merle Fräbel finished fourth after sitting in second at the halfway mark of the race. Italy’s Sandra Robatscher fell to fifth from third, while Latvia’s Sigita Berzina finished sixth, back from fourth.

Latvia’s Kendija Aparjode, who led after the first heat, appeared to have a medal contending run in the second heat but trouble in the final curve dropped her back to seventh.

With the tricky ice conditions, some women who had iffy first runs were able to catapult their way up the finishing order. Julia Taubitz of Germany entered the second heat in 16th but finished eighth. Austria’s Madeleine Egle had trouble in her first heat. Her second run was the quickest of the race and moved her from 25th to 12th.

Ashley Farquharson was the top American in the field with a 13th finish. Her two runs were also the 13th quickest in each run. Brittney Arndt had a later start draw and was 19th after the first heat, but moved up to 17th on her second run. Emily Sweeney and Summer Britcher had trouble in their runs, with Sweeney in 25th, while Britcher crashed and did not finish.

For Canada, Trinity Ellis finished 18th, while Caitlin Nash finished 21st. Carolyn Maxwell crashed in nearly the same spot Britcher did and did not finish.

With five events left in the overall World Cup, Dajana Eitberger leads by 5 points over Julia Taubitz. Madeleine Egle’s trip to Sigulda has dropped her to third overall, with Ann Berreiter and Emily Sweeney rounding out the top five.

Results:

Pos Name Nation Bib Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Total
1 Anna Berreiter GER 27 1.624 1.622 42.546 42.054 1:24.600
2 Dajana Eitberger GER 25 1.644 1.648 42.461 42.170 1:24.631
3 Elina Vitola LAT 24 1.621 1.621 42.488 42.149 1:24.637
4 Merle Fräbel GER 16 1.672 1.633 42.410 42.232 1:24.642
5 Sandra Robatscher ITA 21 1.633 1.638 42.441 42.274 1:24.715
6 Sigita Berzina LAT 17 1.627 1.640 42.453 42.284 1:24.737
7 Kendija Aparjode LAT 18 1.660 1.650 42.393 42.390 1:24.783
8 Julia Taubitz GEr 8 1.629 1.653 42.780 42.119 1:24.899
9 Andrea Vötter ITA 26 1.606 1.610 42.618 42.322 1:24.940
10 Natalie Maag SUI 22 1.687 1.652 42.720 42.269 1:24.989
11 Lisa Schulte AUT 19 1.650 1.654 42.643 42.356 1:24.999
12 Madeleine Egle AUT 29 1.605 1.608 43.218 41.868 1:25.086
13 Ashley Farquharson USA 15 1.673 1.669 42.723 42.397 1:25.120
14 Marion Oberhofer ITA 14 1.637 1.639 42.671 42.543 1:25.214
15 Verena Hofer ITA 13 1.631 1.643 42.668 42.620 1:25.288
16 Olena Stetskiv UKR 10 1.658 1.654 42.735 42.574 1:25.309
17 Brittney Arndt USA 23 1.699 1.696 42.855 42.460 1:25.315
18 Trinity Ellis CAN 12 1.668 1.687 42.815 42.591 1:25.406
19 Peixuan Wang CHN 4 1.665 1.663 42.760 42.669 1:25.429
20 Tove Kohala SWE 8 1.676 1.675 42.813 42.680 1:25.493
21 Caitlin Nash CAN 9 1.649 1.680 42.882 42.648 1:25.530
22 Selina Egle AUT 11 1.667 1.677 43.086 42.679 1:25.765
23 Klaudia Domaradzka POL 7 1.678 1.688 42.917 42.923 1:25.840
24 Katarina Simonakova SVK 6 1.689 1.700 43.048 42.972 1:26.020
25 Emily Sweeney USA 30 1.617 1.615 43.016 43.270 1:26.286
26 Adikeyoumu Gulijienaiti CHN 3 1.690 1.696 43.509 43.293 1:26.802
27 Sin-Rong Lin TPE 1 1.663 1.662 45.073 44.311 1:29.384
28 Elsa Desmond IRL 2 1.752 1.717 52.779 43.695 1:36.474
DNF Carolyn Maxwell CAN 5 1.634 DNF
DNF Summer Britcher USA 20 1.634 DNF