The German women luge athletes started the Olympic year brilliantly with a triple victory on their own ice. Sochi winner Natalie Geisenberger (Miesbach) won the World Cup at the Königssee in front of team-mates Dajana Eitberger (Ilmenau) and Jessica Tiebel (Altenberg).
The performance of the third-placed junior world champion in particular caused a stir, and Tiebel made her world cup debut on Saturday.
“That was a demonstration of our women, you have to bring it down,”said national coach Norbert Loch on ARD television:”What Jessica shows on her debut is also impressive.”
The 19-year-old had qualified for the race on Friday via the Nations Cup. This possibility existed because world champion Tatjana Huefner (Blankenburg) had to cancel her participation. The 34-year-old suffers from a nerve inflammation in her right leg, but is due to start again the next weekend in Oberhof.
In the absence of a permanent rival, Geisenberger continued to expand her clear lead in the overall World Cup, while the 29-year-old underscores her role as gold medallist at the South Korean Winter Games (9th place). till 25. The training week was actually very difficult, so I didn’t think it would work out that way again today. That’s just awesome,”Geisenberger said.
Tatyana Ivanova will not be present in Pyeongchang. The 26-year-old is the only active member of the Russian tobogganing team to have been banned from competing in the Olympic Games for life as a result of the state doping scandal. Albert Demtschenko, who has resigned, is now a coach, but he is also not allowed to travel to the Winter Games. Both contest the decisions of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) before the International Sports Court CAS.
However, Ivanova is still allowed to compete in the World Cup, she finished ninth on Saturday. The FIL World Toboggan Federation did not follow the IOC ban, arguing that the evidence was insufficient. FIL President Josef Fendt reaffirmed this on Saturday:”We have set up a disciplinary commission with three experienced lawyers. They held a three-hour hearing with the athletes concerned and checked all the documents available from the IOC,”Fendt told ARD television:” They unanimously agreed that the evidence was not sufficient for a lockout.