From Durham, USA
Nov. 18, 2019 – The 2019/2020 FIL World Cup promises to have a slightly different feel than in years past, with some traditional gold medal contenders on the sidelines, and others outright retired.
The most notable change comes in women’s luge, where both World Champion Natalie Geisenberger and Dajana Eitberger are sitting out of the 2019/2020 season to have children. The two accounted for 16 of the 36 available women’s luge World Cup medals in the 2018/2019 FIL World Cup season, with Geisenberger medaling in all but one event (Königssee).
The German duo being out leaves a vacuum open for Americans Summer Britcher (third in 2018/2019) and Emily Sweeney (World Championship bronze medalist) to potentially fill. Britcher has been strong in the past few seasons, with Sweeney seemingly sliding better than she ever has despite a partial schedule last season. Both women will have to contend with Julia Taubitz, who finished second to Geisenberger in the first three races of the season before besting her in Calgary. Tatyana Ivanova will look to wedge her way into the World Cup title discussion as well.
With no such void in the men’s ranks, Russia and Germany are set to duel for golds yet again. Semen Pavlichenko won the last three races of the year, including both the World Cup and Sprint World Cup races on his home track in Sochi. Pavlichenko and teammate Roman Repilov finished 1-2 in the overall standings last season, with Felix Loch and Johannes Ludwig finishing just behind them. All four men are returning for 2019/2020.
Austrian Wolfgang Kindl started the 2018/2019 season strong with a bronze and three gold medals, but the wheels fell off his season following a disqualification (weight) in Lake Placid. He’ll look to start strong on his home ice in Igls before coming to North America for the next two rounds.
In doubles action, Toni Eggert & Sascha Benecken look to pick up where they left off after a stellar 2018/2019 campaign put them well ahead of the competition. Their teammates Tobias Wendl & Tobias Arlt, along with Austrians Thomas Steu & Lorenz Koller will look to bump Eggert & Benecken off the top of the podium in the coming year.
Chris Mazdzer will once again do double duty, sliding both in men’s and doubles luge. Jayson Terdiman will join Mazdzer on the doubles sled as the duo looks to improve on their single silver medal effort from a year ago.
