From Igls, AUT
(December 7, 2024) – Selina Egle and Lara Kipp defended their home ice in Igls with a dominating victory in the second round of the women’s doubles World Cup.
Starting off the new start ramp as part of a 28 million Euro renovation, the duo opened up a lead of over a quarter second ahead of Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal, with new team Dajana Eitberger and Lena Matschina in third.
In the second heat the growing pains for the new team of Eitberger and Matschina continued. A week after crashing out of their first heat run in Lillehammer, the German duo had a skiddy second run that dropped them out of the medals and out of the top five.
Eitberger and Matschina’s troubles put the team of Anda Upite and Zane Kaluma into the medals with the second German team to go.
Degenhardt and Rosenthal were clean and quick in their second run with a downtime that was nearly two tenths quicker than their first, which was more than enough to take the lead handily with only the Austrians to go.
A season ago Egle and Kipp failed to win on their home ice in the women’s doubles event. This time they would not be denied. Their second run was even quicker than their first heat’s effort and the combined time was over three tenths ahead of anyone else for their first win of the 2024/2025 campaign.
“It’s amazing, and feels great to win in front of our home friends and family,” Kipp told FIL TV after the race.
Degenhardt and Rosenthal took silver, and despite not winning the duo were happy with how they slid with the slightly new configuration.
“The track was a bit faster,” Degenhardt said. “We had some trouble in eight and nine in the first run, but we gained some speed in the second run”
Upite and Kaluma took bronze, just ahead of Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer in fourth.
The World Cup leaders coming into the race, Americans Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirkby had a skiddy first heat and found themselves out of the top five after that run. But their second run was much better and enough to move them into fifth.
After two races in the women’s doubles luge World Cup, Degenhardt and Rosenthal lead Forgan and Kirkby, with Egle and Kipp in third. Upite and Kaluma, and Robezniece and Bogdanova round out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Egle / Kipp | AUT | 7 | 9.429 | 9.456 | 46.763 | 46.736 | 1:33.499 |
| 2 | Degenhardt / Rosenthal | GER | 11 | 9.373 | 9.365 | 47.015 | 46.835 | 1:33.850 |
| 3 | Upite / Kaluma | LAT | 9 | 9.459 | 9.450 | 47.121 | 46.988 | 1:34.109 |
| 4 | Vötter / Oberhofer | ITA | 6 | 9.366 | 9.399 | 47.167 | 47.072 | 1:34.239 |
| 5 | Forgan / Kirkby | USA | 8 | 9.371 | 9.387 | 47.299 | 47.043 | 1:34.342 |
| 6 | Eitberger / Matschina | GER | 1 | 9.435 | 9.445 | 47.092 | 47.271 | 1:34.363 |
| 7 | Robezniece / Bogdanova | LAT | 2 | 9.480 | 9.498 | 47.182 | 47.230 | 1:34.412 |
| 8 | Falkensteiner / Huber | ITA | 5 | 9.550 | 9.540 | 47.363 | 47.303 | 1:34.666 |
| 9 | Domowicz / Piwkowska | POL | 4 | 9.565 | 9.539 | 47.615 | 47.675 | 1:35.290 |
| 10 | Stetskiv / Mokh | UKR | 10 | 9.533 | 9.523 | 47.782 | 47.668 | 1:35.450 |
| 11 | Stramaturaru / Manolescu | ROU | 3 | 9.562 | 9.712 | 47.764 | 48.207 | 1:35.971 |