From Yanqing, CHN
(November 21, 2021) – Austria’s Madeleine Egle took gold in the FIL World Cup opener that doubled as the test event for the 2022 Olympic Games in Yanqing, beating a strong contingent of sliders to take top honors.
Egle set the quick time in the first heat, but was only .007 ahead of 2019/2020 World Cup champion Julie Taubitz of Germany while the rest of the field was otherwise well behind.
On the second run Taubitz once again set a quick time to put herself in the lead and be the only thing that stood between Egle and her first individual World Cup gold medal. Egle didn’t flinch, however, and the Austrian once again was the quickest in the heat to win her first ever gold medal in women’s luge.
Taubitz took silver, while Nation’s Cup gold medalist Lisa Schulte won bronze.
Egle had previously won gold in the Team Relay event.
Despite at times looking like they were struggling on a track that seemingly everyone but Egle and Taubitz struggled on, Germany still put three women in the top five. Anna Berreiter finished fourth, while Dajana Eitberger finished fifth.
Russia’s Tatyana Ivanova finished sixth.
Like so many other nations, the United States struggled to gain their footing in Yanqing. Ashley Farquharson was the only American to score a top ten finish in eighth. Summer Britcher moved up from 15th in the first heat to finish 14th, while Emily Sweeney moved up from 17th to finish 16th.
Brittney Arndt crashed in the first heat and hit her head on the roof. She sat out the second heat as a precaution.
Canada’s lone slider, Trinity Ellis, finished a career-best tenth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Madeleine Egle | AUT | 24 | 7.213 | 7.226 | 59.390 | 59.432 | 1:58.822 |
| 2 | Julia Taubitz | GER | 26 | 7.276 | 7.250 | 59.397 | 59.531 | 1:58.928 |
| 3 | Lisa Schulte | AUT | 16 | 7.270 | 7.265 | 59.793 | 59.557 | 1:59.350 |
| 4 | Anna Berreiter | GER | 15 | 7.225 | 7.238 | 59.794 | 59.800 | 1:59.594 |
| 5 | Dajana Eitberger | GER | 27 | 7.273 | 7.307 | 59.965 | 59.815 | 1:59.780 |
| 6 | Tatyana Ivanova | RUS | 19 | 7.188 | 7.205 | 59.905 | 59.932 | 1:59.837 |
| 7 | Eliza Tiruma | LAT | 10 | 7.265 | 7.274 | 59.864 | 59.995 | 1:59.859 |
| 8 | Ashley Farquharson | USA | 12 | 7.339 | 7.363 | 59.982 | 59.885 | 1:59.867 |
| 9 | Viktoriia Demchenko | RUS | 22 | 7.223 | 7.232 | 60.054 | 59.921 | 1:59.975 |
| 10 | Trinity Ellis | CAN | 9 | 7.304 | 7.296 | 60.159 | 59.842 | 2:00.01 |
| 11 | Verena Hofer | ITA | 8 | 7.290 | 7.288 | 60.105 | 60.199 | 2:00.304 |
| 12 | Diana Loginova | RUS | 6 | 7.260 | 7.290 | 60.060 | 60.288 | 2:00.348 |
| 13 | Kendija Aparjode | LAT | 21 | 7.296 | 7.310 | 60.535 | 59.862 | 2:00.397 |
| 14 | Summer Britcher | USA | 28 | 7.282 | 7.304 | 60.533 | 59.922 | 2:00.455 |
| 15 | Nina Zöggeler | ITA | 2 | 7.285 | 7.307 | 60.279 | 60.355 | 2:00.634 |
| 16 | Emily Sweeney | USA | 14 | 7.283 | 7.271 | 60.576 | 60.077 | 2:00.653 |
| 17 | Marion Oberhofer | ITA | 4 | 7.293 | 7.311 | 60.378 | 60.305 | 2:00.683 |
| 18 | Sigita Berzina | LAT | 7 | 7.394 | 7.273 | 60.592 | 60.316 | 2:00.908 |
| 19 | Andrea Vötter | ITA | 18 | 7.310 | 7.263 | 60.684 | 60.323 | 2:01.007 |
| 20 | Selina Egle | AUT | 5 | 7.330 | 7.352 | 60.667 | 60.495 | 2:01.162 |
| 21 | Hannah Prock | AUT | 11 | 7.318 | 7.311 | 61.207 | 60.020 | 2:01.227 |
| 22 | Natalie Maag | SUI | 20 | 7.310 | 7.336 | 61.663 | 59.940 | 2:01.603 |
| 23 | Elina Vitola | LAT | 23 | 7.230 | 7.241 | 61.032 | 60.694 | 2:01.726 |
| 24 | Yulianna Tunytska | UKR | 1 | 7.290 | 7.320 | 60.729 | 61.609 | 2:02.338 |
| 25 | Aileen Frisch | KOR | 3 | 7.242 | 7.321 | 60.606 | 62.358 | 2:02.964 |
| 26 | Natalie Geisenberger | GER | 25 | 7.227 | 7.303 | 63.520 | 59.685 | 2:03.205 |
| 27 | Ekaterina Katnikova | RUS | 17 | 7.310 | 7.325 | 61.244 | 64.070 | 2:05.314 |
| DNS | Brittney Arndt | USA | 13 | 7.362 | 65.109 | DNS |
