From Sochi, RUS
(December 5, 2021) – Julia Tautbitz was in a class by herself in Sochi, easily winning gold in the women’s luge competition.
Taubitz set the quick time of the first heat, over a tenth of a second ahead of Russia’s Ekaterina Katnikova and teammate Natalie Geisenberger.
The second run for Geisenberger was smooth and enough to put her in the lead with Katnikova and Taubitz to go. The Russian faltered, putting down the slowest time of the heat to plummet down to 19th with Taubitz to go. Taubitz answered with authority, setting the second quickest time of the heat, plenty ahead of anyone else to win by over .3 over Geisenberger.
The win for Taubitz was her first of the season, while Geisenberger’s silver was her first medal of the season.
Winning bronze, and adding another medal to Latvia’s amazing weekend, was Kendija Aparjode. Her brother, Kristers, won the first ever gold medal for a men’s singles slider from Latvia, and Andris and Juris Sics won a medal in the doubles event to keep their streak of medals alive.
The first Sochi race winner, Anna Berreiter, finished fourth. She’d entered the second heat in 11th. Madeleine Egle finished fifth, up from seventh, while Eliza Tiruma rounded out the top six for Latvia.
The big mover of the race was Dajana Eitberger, who came into the second heat in 24th but put down the quick run of the second heat to move all the way up to ninth.
Summer Britcher was the top-scoring American with a top ten finish. With that finish she also won the America Pacific championship that was set to be held in Lake Placid, but was rescheduled for Sochi with the schedule change. American Ashley Farquharson helped put two American sleds in the Sprint World Cup race later in the morning with her 13th place finish. Brittney Arndt moved up a spot into 19th to round out the American effort.
For the first time in a long time, Canada put three women in the World Cup women’s race. Trinity Ellis led the way in 18th place, while Natalie Corless finished just outside of the top 20 in 21st. Kailey Allan finished 28th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Julia Taubitz | GER | 26 | 3.947 | 3.948 | 49.677 | 49.757 | 1:39.434 |
| 2 | Natalie Geisenberger | GER | 17 | 3.946 | 3.939 | 49.819 | 49.983 | 1:39.802 |
| 3 | Kendija Aparjode | LAT | 25 | 3.956 | 3.964 | 49.946 | 49.910 | 1:39.856 |
| 4 | Anna Berreiter | GER | 28 | 3.937 | 3.932 | 50.076 | 49.855 | 1:39.931 |
| 5 | Madeleine Egle | AUT | 23 | 3.922 | 3.932 | 50.023 | 50.019 | 1:40.042 |
| 6 | Eliza Tiruma | LAT | 24 | 3.961 | 3.957 | 49.972 | 50.106 | 1:40.078 |
| 7 | Andrea Vötter | ITA | 14 | 3.926 | 3.922 | 50.032 | 50.091 | 1:40.123 |
| 8 | Olesya Mikhaylenko | RUS | 11 | 3.966 | 3.974 | 49.956 | 50.192 | 1:40.148 |
| 9 | Dajana Eitberger | GER | 27 | 3.961 | 3.962 | 50.466 | 49.754 | 1:40.200 |
| 10 | Summer Britcher | USA | 15 | 3.961 | 3.962 | 50.047 | 50.164 | 1:40.211 |
| 11 | Hannah Prock | AUT | 7 | 3.965 | 3.963 | 50.257 | 50.052 | 1:40.309 |
| 12 | Nina Zöggeler | ITA | 13 | 3.969 | 3.978 | 50.173 | 50.143 | 1:40.316 |
| 13 | Ashley Farquharson | USA | 2 | 3.981 | 3.979 | 50.251 | 50.182 | 1:40.433 |
| 14 | Marion Oberhofer | ITA | 18 | 3.965 | 3.962 | 50.248 | 50.236 | 1:40.484 |
| 14 | Viktoriia Demchenko | RUS | 21 | 3.949 | 3.947 | 50.389 | 50.095 | 1:40.484 |
| 16 | Lisa Schulte | AUT | 19 | 3.971 | 3.979 | 50.075 | 50.439 | 1:40.514 |
| 17 | Verena Hofer | ITA | 20 | 3.949 | 3.943 | 50.381 | 50.146 | 1:40.527 |
| 18 | Trinity Ellis | CAN | 6 | 3.981 | 3.974 | 50.262 | 50.313 | 1:40.575 |
| 19 | Brittney Arndt | USA | 12 | 3.995 | 4.003 | 50.360 | 50.234 | 1:40.594 |
| 20 | Ekaterina Katnikova | RUS | 16 | 3.965 | 3.971 | 49.801 | 50.825 | 1:40.626 |
| 21 | Natalie Corless | CAN | 5 | 3.999 | 3.400 | 50.214 | 50.458 | 1:40.672 |
| 22 | Sigita Berzina | LAT | 22 | 3.948 | 3.941 | 50.344 | 50.371 | 1:40.715 |
| 23 | Diana Loginova | RUS | 3 | 3.979 | 3.979 | 50.362 | 50.357 | 1:40.719 |
| 24 | Ulla Zirne | LAT | 10 | 4.002 | 3.999 | 50.605 | 50.148 | 1:40.753 |
| 25 | Raluca Stramaturaru | ROU | 8 | 3.989 | 3.987 | 50.250 | 50.606 | 1:40.856 |
| 26 | Natalie Maag | SUI | 22 | 3.991 | 3.976 | 50.845 | 50.199 | 1:41.044 |
| 27 | Aileen Frisch | KOR | 4 | 3.974 | 3.968 | 50.656 | 50.468 | 1:41.124 |
| 28 | Kailey Allan | CAN | 1 | 3.983 | 3.995 | 50.696 | 50.462 | 1:41.158 |
