Luge

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Selina Egle (left) and Lara Michaela Kipp

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

The Egle siblings left their mark on their home luge World Cup in Innsbruck-Igls on Saturday. Madeleine Egle won by a superior margin of 0.24 seconds ahead of Germany's Julia Taubitz. Individual World Champion Lisa Schulte finished third. Selina Egle/Lara Kipp had already triumphed earlier in the doubles. Including third place for Thomas Steu/Wolfgang Kindl, there were four podium places for the ÖRV.

As in the previous two years, Austria's team delivered a strong performance on the 200 m longer track in Igls. For Madeleine Egle, who has been in limbo for over a year due to a possible ban after missing three doping tests, it is also a great success for her psyche. "After all the preparation, I really didn't think it would work again in Innsbruck. It's really cool that the speed is back," said Egle in the ORF interview.

13th World Cup victory for Madeleine Egle
It was her 13th World Cup victory, the fifth in Igls. She saw the reason for the victory as "a super material set-up". "It was also very good from the start, the runs were also okay." She said of the sisters' double victory in Igls: "Now we can both be happy together and no one has to console the other." Schulte was "megahappy" after her second third place this season: "The (second) run was really good again. I think I've now reached an age where I already have a lot of runs on most courses. That really helps me."

The luge world champions Egle/Kipp had previously beaten the Germans Jessica Degenhardt/Cheyenne Rosenthal into second place by 0.351 seconds in 1:33.499 minutes. It was Egle/Kipp's eighth World Cup victory, their third in Igls. In 2023, they had only finished ninth in Igls after leading at half-time with a capital mistake. "We held our nerve this year, everything came together," explained Selina Egle. Kipp, who had her back treated between runs, was also able to laugh again: "It shot into my back a bit during strength training on Tuesday."

Kipp locates better luge experience
The latter also liked the new double-seater start, which had been moved 200 m higher. "The feeling was great. The upper turns in particular have a bit more pressure and height. It feels more like tobogganing. I'm very happy that the start has been moved up," said Kipp. The world champion duo have thus also redeemed themselves for their somewhat unsuccessful start in Lillehammer with sixth place.

In the men's doubles, Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl saved third place in the second run after a mistake and thus their second podium finish of the season. Yannick Müller/Armin Frauscher, who were in fourth place after the first heat, also made mistakes and finished fifth.

Several crashes on the extended track
A driving error by the red-white-red world champions Juri Gatt/Ricardo Schöpf did not go quite so smoothly. The duo crashed on their way to a new best time in the first run at the entrance to the first labyrinth. There was also an incident for the US duo Dana William Kellogg/Frank Ike. Kellogg dislocated his shoulder at the start and the two had to deliberately tip the sled.