Germany Wins Winterberg Relay

From Winterberg, GER

(January 7, 2024) – The end result was a little closer than the race felt, but in the end Germany won the team relay in Winterberg.

The team of Anna Berreiter, Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, Max Langenhan, and the duo of Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal beat out Austria by just .043 to win the 47th gold medal for Germany in the relay, far more than the rest of the world combined.

Austria’s team of Hannah Prock, Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf, Jonas Müller and Selina Egle and Lara Kipp had taken a large lead over the United States with just the Germans to go, and while Germany had opened their own big lead over Austria, the slide of Egle and Kipp was the best of all the women’s doubles teams and enough to keep the race close.

The Americans finished third, with Ashley Farquharson, Zack DiGregorio and Sean Hollander, Jonny Gustafson, and Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirkby all setting quick runs of teams who had finished to that point.

The podium matched the podium from the relay in Whistler, where Germany beat Austria and the United States.

Asked if this is a bit old hat for Germany at this point, Jessica Degenhardt said it was still a little special.

“It’s the first year of the team relay,” she said. “”So it’s quite special. It’s still so new and so exciting. It was so close!”

Poland finished fourth, ahead of Ukraine and China, who rounded out the field of finishers.

Latvia otherwise had a strong weekend in Winterberg, highlighted by Kristers Aparjods winning a bronze medal in men’s singles. But Aparjods crashed late in his run and was unable to get back on the sled, and Latvia scored a DNF.

Like Latvia, Italy saw a podium by their men’s slider, but then saw their men’s athlete crash. Sandra Robatscher had opened up over a full second lead over Poland, but then Ivan Nagler and Fabian Malleier tipped over out of the start curve. They got their sled righted, and finished, but then Dominik Fischnaller crashed out of Curve 9 and also did not finish.

Romania’s Valentin Cretu missed the paddle on his slide and the team was disqualified.

Results: