From Winterberg, GER
(January 19, 2025) – Austria slid to their second relay gold medal of the 2024/2025 World Cup season as they edged out Germany for first place.
Poland kicked things off in the relay with their best set of four slides of the seasos so far. The held their lead as neither the Canadians nor the Romanians could match the consistency of their runs.
The United States slid from the fourth spot. Emily Sweeney put down the quick run out of any of the women’s luge athletes. Behind her, the men’s doubles team of Mueller and Haugsjaa looked to have a strong run going but did the “victory roll” out of the Zielkurve, but did manage to slide to the paddle and send off Jonny Gustafson. Gustafson had a solid run and the women’s doubles team of Forgan and Kirkby managed to give the Americans a decent time to take the lead despite the crash.
The Italian team of Verena Hofer, Nagler and Malleier, Dominik Fischnaller and medal winners Vötter and Oberhofer took the lead from the Americans on the strength of Vötter and Oberhofer’s final run.
That lead held for about eight minutes, as neither the Latvian or Ukranian teams could match their pace.
But then it was time for the Austrians, who had been strong at every turn this season. Madeleine Egle kicked things off and was out-slid by only Sweeney. Gatt and Schöpf and Jonas Müller both had the fastest times for their disciplines, with only Egle and Kipp having a bit of an issue in their run on their way to a .58 advantage over the Italians with only Germany to go.
The Germans were strong on their home ice, but were behind early. Julia Taubitz was two tenths off of Egle’s pace, and neither Wendl and Arlt or Max Langenhan could make up enough ground. Degenhardt and Rosenthal, the final sled off the top, closed the gap some, but ran out of track as Germany found itself .091 back in second, with Austria on top.
Austria’s gold was their eighth in the relay. They held off Germany and Italy, who were silver and bronze. USA was fourth, Latvia fifth, and Poland a season-best sixth.
With one relay to go in Yanqing, Germany leads the World Cup standings by just ten points over Austria. Latvia is third, 11 points ahead of Ukraine in fourth. Italy, the United States, Romania, Canada, and Poland round out the World Cup standings.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Women | M-Doubles | Men | W-Doubles |
| 1 | Egle / Gatt & Schöpf / Müller / Egle & Kipp | AUT | 8 | 47.865 | 1:35.615 | 2:22.824 | 3:11.428 |
| 2 | Taubitz / Wendl & Arlt / Langenhan / Degenhardt & Rosenthal | GER | 9 | 48.064 | 1:35.728 | 2:22.924 | 3:11.519 |
| 3 | Hofer / Nagler & Malleier / Fischnaller / Vötter & Oberhofer | ITA | 5 | 48.296 | 1:36.084 | 2:23.449 | 3:12.008 |
| 4 | Sweeney / Mueller & Haugsjaa / Gustafson / Forgan & Kirkby | USA | 4 | 47.852 | 1:36.575 | 2:24.092 | 3:12.632 |
| 5 | Bota / Bots & Plume / Aparjods / Upite & Kaluma | LAT | 6 | 48.493 | 1:36.315 | 2:23.802 | 3:12.921 |
| 6 | Domaradzka / Chmielewski & Kowalewski / Sochowicz / Domowicz & Piwkowska | POL | 1 | 48.620 | 1:36.548 | 2:24.066 | 3:13.649 |
| 7 | Susko / Wardrope & Zajanski / Downey / Podulsky & Allan | CAN | 2 | 48.467 | 1:36.614 | 2:24.859 | 3:14.073 |
| 8 | Tunytska / Hoi & Kachmar / Dukach / Stetskiv & Mokh | UKR | 7 | 48.866 | 1:37.853 | 2:25.510 | 3:14.985 |
| 9 | Buzatoiu / Gitlan & Serban / Cretu / Stramaturaru & Manolescu | ROU | 3 | 48.751 | 1:37.676 | 2:25.607 | 3:15.187 |