From Yanqing, CHN
(February 22, 2025) – The points coming into the final women’s luge race of the 2024/2025 FIL World Cup season was tighter than anything else in artificial track luge, with Madeleine Egle ahead of Lisa Schulte and Julia Taubitz. And it would take something special by Taubitz to win the overall title.
The four-time World Cup champion did find something special on her way to what would be her fifth overall title.
Egle, Taubitz, and Schulte all started together, with Schulte first, then Taubitz and Egle. Schulte’s first effort wasn’t the cleanest, as she found herself in fifth after her run with still many good sleds to go.
Taubitz was next in the first heat and threw down a monster run, what would be the quickest of the race on her way to the lead with Egle up next.
Egle couldn’t answer. Her first effort was slower than Schulte’s and only good enough for what would be ninth after the first heat.
In the second heat Egle was first of the three contenders and while she was quicker than her first slide was unable to match the speed that either Taubitz or Schulte had in their first heat.
Schulte was next, and the Austrian was able to pick up some spots with a strong second run that was a tenth quicker than her first effort. With Egle’s run, Schulte would need to make her way to the podium to move ahead of her teammate, but her climb stopped at what would amount to sixth place in the race.
Taubitz didn’t need to be the fastest of the second heat, she just needed a relatively clean run to win the season title. But her second start was quicker than her first, and while her second slide didn’t exactly match her first, it was still more than enough to set the quick time of the heat on her way to a gold medal and her fifth World Cup title.
Julia Taubitz was very emotional after her victory, “I’m just so very happy, I have no words!” she told FIL media after the race.
Behind Taubitz, friend and training partner Natalie Maag put down an outstanding second run to move ahead of Germany’s Merle Fräbel to win a silver medal for her second podium of the year. Fräbel took bronze, her fourth medal on the season.
The United States’ lone representative in the race, Ashley Farquharson, had a pair of runs that were quick through Curve 13, but trouble from 13 onward likely cost her a spot or two. The American still finished fifth to round out a strong season.
Romania’s Corina Buzatoiu had set the start record earlier in the day in Nation’s Cup. She eventually lost that start record but had a season’s best finish of 12th, while Ireland’s Elsa Desmond finished 22nd.
Julia Taubitz’s victory gave her the FIL World Cup title, her fifth. Madeleine Egle finished the season in second place overall, just nine points ahead of Lisa Schulte in third. Merle Fräbel finished the year in fourth, Natalie Maag in fifth, and Ashley Farquharson in sixth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Julia Taubitz | GER | 13 | 7.039 | 7.037 | 59.406 | 59.520 | 1:58.926 |
| 2 | Natalie Maag | SUI | 15 | 7.071 | 7.048 | 59.706 | 59.663 | 1:59.369 |
| 3 | Merle Fräbel | GER | 17 | 7.042 | 7.005 | 59.672 | 59.731 | 1:59.403 |
| 4 | Kendija Aparjode | LAT | 6 | 7.084 | 7.050 | 59.754 | 59.783 | 1:59.537 |
| 5 | Ashley Farquharson | USA | 7 | 7.113 | 7.065 | 59.776 | 59.884 | 1:59.660 |
| 6 | Lisa Schulte | AUT | 12 | 7.066 | 7.074 | 59.971 | 59.853 | 1:59.824 |
| 7 | Barbara Allmaier | AUT | 8 | 7.125 | 7.111 | 59.947 | 60.137 | 2:00.084 |
| 8 | Hannah Prock | AUT | 5 | 7.095 | 7.108 | 59.953 | 60.144 | 2:00.097 |
| 9 | Madeleine Egle | AUT | 14 | 7.042 | 7.041 | 60.257 | 59.940 | 2:00.197 |
| 10 | Anna Berreiter | GER | 16 | 7.036 | 7.019 | 60.358 | 60.128 | 2:00.486 |
| 11 | Verna Hofer | ITA | 9 | 7.081 | 7.089 | 60.316 | 60.597 | 2:00.913 |
| 12 | Ioana-Corina Buzatoiu | ROU | 1 | 7.078 | 7.033 | 60.388 | 60.575 | 2:00.963 |
| 13 | Tove Kohala | SWE | 11 | 7.146 | 7.116 | 60.554 | 60.619 | 2:01.173 |
| 14 | Melina Fischer | GER | 10 | 7.074 | 7.030 | 61.195 | 60.048 | 2:01.243 |
| 15 | Nina Zöggeler | ITA | 4 | 7.102 | 7.090 | 60.620 | 60.792 | 2:01.412 |
| 16 | Sandra Robatscher | ITA | 3 | 7.105 | 7.120 | 60.370 | 61.078 | 2:01.448 |
| 17 | Yulianna Tunytska | UKR | 19 | 7.040 | 7.049 | 60.784 | 60.870 | 2:01.654 |
| 18 | Peixuan Wang | CHN | 18 | 7.059 | 7.116 | 60.792 | 61.404 | 2:02.196 |
| 19 | Huilan Hu | CHN | 2 | 7.121 | 7.088 | 60.530 | 61.744 | 2:02.274 |
| 20 | Liangziting Zhou | CHN | 22 | 7.106 | 7.145 | 61.921 | 62.197 | 2:04.118 |
| 21 | Olena Smaha | UKR | 21 | 7.128 | 62.170 | |||
| 22 | Elsa Desmond | IRL | 20 | 7.102 | 62.737 | |||
| 23 | Lihui Xin | CHN | 23 | 7.343 | 63.006 |