World Cup dominator Max Langenhan wishes Felix Loch a World Cup medal. “At the end it would be cool if we both had a medal hanging around our necks,” said the 24-year-old before the World Luge Championships in Altenberg, which began with the sprint races on Friday. “That would be the biggest goal.”
At the home World Cup in Oberhof a year ago there were eight wins in the nine competitions. In the men’s single-seater, Langenhan came second behind the Austrian Jonas Müller. The 34-year-old Loch missed out on a medal, but previously won the sprint competition.
The recently weakening hole has recovered, said Langenhan about the three-time Olympic champion. “He’s got really good training results. He’s definitely as strong as he used to be at the peak of the season. He’s a strong force to be reckoned with. You can never write him off.”
Langenhan can win a lot in Altenberg, but he would rather win the World Cup on Saturday than on Friday. “In the end, of course, it’s this title that counts, which you can also win at the Olympics. That’s simply the single-seater title. The sprint doesn’t exist at the Olympics yet,” said Langenhan. The men’s single-seater with two runs will be held on Saturday in the SachsenEnergie ice channel, the World Cup ends on Sunday with the team relay.
Medal is the goal
But Langenhan doesn’t want to talk about titles. “A medal is the goal. Everything else is on top,” said Langenhan. He has now ticked off his first defeat in the World Cup at the European Championships in Innsbruck. “Of course it wasn’t nice,” he said. One reason why the series ended after ten wins was that he didn’t know the track in Austria that well.
In Altenberg, however, Langenhan completed “certainly 70 or 80 runs” this season. But he doesn’t want to put himself under pressure. “The very first thing you expect from yourself is good racing. If that’s right, I can’t blame myself.”