Tobogganing: German triple victory at the season opener – Geisenberger ahead

Just three months before the winter games in Pyeongchang, luge Olympic champion Natalie Geisenberger led a German triple victory at the start of the season. The 29-year-old won the World Cup on Saturday in Igls, Austria, ahead of Dajana Eitberger and World Champion Tatjana Huefner. After two runs, Geisenberger had a 0.173-second lead over the second place.

“Victories at the beginning always give self-confidence,”Geisenberger said:”You never know where you stand before, you never know what the other nations have done over the summer” Julia Taubitz took a good fifth place, only Alex Gough from Canada prevented the German fourfold success.

German national coach Norbert Loch was also “very satisfied”, but also addressed negative aspects:”It is the Olympic season, and we have seen how nervously all participants were without exception, including our athletes. You have mastered it with cleverness, but it has to have even more stability. I don’t quite agree with that yet.”

Hüfner and Eitberger had big problems in the first run in the first few bends and played better results already in the first half of the race. Only through excellent second runs and mistakes of the direct competitors was it possible to reach the podium.

On Saturday, however, Geisenberger defeated the track above Innsbruck, where she lost her World Championship title to Huefner only ten months ago due to a serious driving mistake:”I can toboggan in Igls, as I had shown many times before, and it worked out again today,”she said.