Luge record world champion Felix Loch successfully defended his lead in the overall World Cup a week before the season finale. The Berchtesgadener finished second in the success of Olympic champion Max Langenhan in a thrilling penultimate World Cup race of the season in St. Moritz and now travels to the decision in Altenberg 16 points ahead of the Austrian Jonas Müller.
Müller, who came second in the Olympics, was still leading Langenhan (Friedrichroda) and Loch after the first run, but then made a mistake in the decisive phase and fell behind the two Germans. In his first World Cup victory in more than a year, Langenhan was 0.347 seconds ahead of Loch, Müller was 0.758 seconds behind. David Nößler (Schmalkalden) came ninth, Timon Grancagnolo from Chemnitz finished 13th.
Loch enters Altenberg with 701 points, Müller has 685. Even if Müller wins, second place in the last race is enough for the German veteran. Third-placed Langenhan (605) only has a purely theoretical chance of overall success. For a win you get 100 points, second place gets 85 points, third place gets you 70 points.
Loch, who surprisingly resurfaced this winter and missed his third individual medal in Cortina after gold in 2010 and 2014, traveled to Switzerland with a one-point lead. There will now be a showdown in Altenberg, for Loch it would be the eighth overall World Cup title, most recently he secured the 2021 Crystal Globe. Langenhan had triumphed in each of the past two seasons. Before he secured gold at the Winter Games, the world champion had problems.
Germany’s record sledders Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt had already secured overall victory on Saturday. Shortly after their last Olympic Winter Games, third place was enough for the doubles team. In the women’s category, the Austrians Selina Egle/Lara Kipp secured the crown.
In the single-seater, Olympic champion Julia Taubitz took over the top position from Austrian Lisa Schulte. The Oberwiesenthaler leads Merle Fräbel (Suhl) with 19 points and is therefore on the verge of her sixth triumph in the overall World Cup and her fifth in a row.
