From Altenberg, GER
(January 26, 2024) – The 52nd edition of the FIL World Championships kicked off on Friday afternoon with the Sprint World Championships.
There was a one-heat qualifying race (not unlike Nation’s Cup) earlier in the race, and the top 15 from each discipline went to the championship race later in the day.
Below are the results, bib numbers are based off the bib from the qualification round.
Men’s Doubles
The men’s doubles race was the first to be contested in Altenberg, and the results set the tone for the rest of the day for Latvia.
The team of Martins Bots and Roberts Plume took gold as they held off Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl after the latter team had a slight skid late in their run that dropped them behind the young Latvians.
Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf were the last team off and slid to a bronze medal, .11 off the pace set by the Latvians.
Italian teams of Ivan Nagler and Fabian Malleier, and Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner rounded out the top five.
The two American teams each had their own issues early on in their runs and that sank any chance they had of contending. Zack DiGregorio and Sean Hollander finished 13th, one spot ahead of Dana Kellogg and Frank Ike in 14th.
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start Sp. | Finish |
| 1 | Bots / Plume | LAT | 13 | 108.8 | 27.863 |
| 2 | Steu / Kindl | AUT | 15 | 108.1 | 27.895 |
| 3 | Gatt / Schöpf | AUT | 11 | 107.9 | 27.973 |
| 4 | Nagler / Malleier | ITA | 9 | 108.2 | 27.998 |
| 5 | Rieder / Kainzwaldner | ITA | 8 | 107.6 | 28.032 |
| 6 | Orlamünder / Gubitz | GER | 12 | 107.5 | 28.081 |
| 7 | Wendl / Arlt | GER | 14 | 109.1 | 28.131 |
| 8 | Baltgalvis / Jegorovs | LAT | 21 | 107.1 | 28.175 |
| 9 | Rieder / Gufler | ITA | 4 | 108.4 | 28.223 |
| 10 | Sevics-Mikelsevics / Krasts | LAT | 1 | 106.5 | 28.267 |
| 11 | Jäger / Steudte | GER | 16 | 106.5 | 28.283 |
| 12 | Vavercak / Zmij | SVK | 5 | 106.8 | 28.293 |
| 13 | DiGregorio / Hollander | USA | 10 | 107.0 | 28.895 |
| 14 | Kellogg / Ike | USA | 3 | 106.2 | 28.568 |
| 15 | Müller / Frauscher | AUT | 7 | 105.2 | 28.857 |
Women’s Singles
Germany’s Julia Taubitz edged out longtime friend Natalie Maag in the women’s singles event to win her second Sprint World Championship.
Maag took the lead early and held it until Taubitz took over, but was quicker than everyone else for her first world championship medal with a silver.
Latvia’s Elina Vitola finished third, just over a tenth behind Taubitz, to give Latvia its second medal of the day.
The United States’ Ashley Farquharson missed out on a medal by just .02 and finished fourth. Teammate Summer Britcher finished eighth.
Canada’s Embyr-Lee Susko finished 14th in her first World Championships appearance.
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start Sp. | Finish |
| 1 | Julia Taubitz | GER | 15 | 116.3 | 37.702 |
| 2 | Natalie Maag | SUI | 6 | 115.6 | 37.774 |
| 3 | Elina Vitola | LAT | 8 | 114.9 | 37.813 |
| 4 | Ashley Farquharson | USA | 13 | 116.5 | 37.833 |
| 5 | Kendija Aparjode | LAT | 5 | 115.7 | 37.854 |
| 6 | Sandra Robatscher | ITA | 16 | 115.7 | 37.872 |
| 7 | Merle Fräbel | GER | 4 | 115.5 | 37.918 |
| 8 | Summer Britcher | USA | 91 | 115.7 | 37.923 |
| 9 | Madeleine Egle | AUT | 14 | 115.1 | 37.934 |
| 10 | Lisa Schulte | AUT | 10 | 114.6 | 37.946 |
| 11 | Hannah Prock | AUT | 7 | 115.6 | 37.953 |
| 12 | Verena Hofer | ITA | 1 | 115.7 | 37.965 |
| 13 | Anna Berreiter | GER | 12 | 115.5 | 37.970 |
| 14 | Embyr-Lee Susko | CAN | 19 | 115.3 | 38.001 |
| 15 | Nina Zöggeler | ITA | 17 | 115.1 | 38.015 |
Men’s Luge
The 2018 Olympic Champion, David Gleirscher, gave Austria its first gold medal of the world championships by edging out Germany’s Max Langenhan.
Gleirscher took the lead early and really wasn’t otherwise challenged until Langenhan’s slide. The German was just a bit slower at the start and continued to close the gap but ran out of track as Gleirscher took gold by .070 over Langenhan.
For the third time of the day Latvia won a medal with a bronze won by Kristers Aparjods, .04 ahead of Germany’s Felix Loch in fourth.
Wolfgang Kindl finished fifth.
Tucker West took ninth as the top American, with teammate Jonny Gustafson in 11th.
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start Sp. | Finish |
| 1 | David Gleirscher | AUT | 8 | 123.8 | 33.001 |
| 2 | Max Langenhan | GER | 15 | 123.5 | 33.071 |
| 3 | Kristers Aparjods | LAT | 12 | 123.5 | 33.124 |
| 4 | Felix Loch | GER | 10 | 123.6 | 33.164 |
| 5 | Wolfgang Kindl | AUT | 9 | 122.5 | 33.239 |
| 6 | Nico Gleirscher | AUT | 13 | 122.3 | 33.260 |
| 7 | Jonas Müller | AUT | 14 | 123.3 | 33.275 |
| 8 | Jozef Ninis | SVK | 17 | 121.6 | 33.350 |
| 9 | Tucker West | USA | 6 | 122.2 | 33.397 |
| 10 | Gints Berzins | LAT | 1 | 120.8 | 33.442 |
| 11 | Jonathan Gustafson | USA | 7 | 121.7 | 33.452 |
| 12 | Andriy Mandziy | UKR | 16 | 119.2 | 33.784 |
| 13 | Dominik Fischnaller | ITA | 11 | 121.2 | 33.799 |
| 14 | David Nößler | GER | 4 | 116.6 | 33.868 |
| 15 | Timon Grancagnolo | GER | 22 | 121.9 | 33.977 |
Women’s Doubles
The final Sprint World Championship race of the day was the women’s doubles event. Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer took the lead from the sixth starting spot and held onto the lead for the remainder of the event to win their first world championship as a team.
Behind them, Latvia took their fourth and fifth medals of the day, as Anda Upite and Zane Kaluma finished .017 behind the Italians while Marta Robezniece and Kitija Bogdanova took bronze, .029 behind their teammates in third.
Maya Chan and Reannyn Weiler had their best finish as a duo since women’s doubles joined the senior circuit full time with a fourth place run.
Dajana Eitberger and Saskia Schirmer took fifth as the top German duo after an issue at the start of their run set them back early.
Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirkby finished sixth, maintaining a streak where an American team has finished sixth in every race in the 2023/2024 season.
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start Sp. | Finish |
| 1 | Vötter / Oberhofer | ITA | 14 | 106.3 | 28.421 |
| 2 | Upite / Kaluma | LAT | 3 | 106.0 | 28.438 |
| 3 | Robezniece / Bogdanova | LAT | 4 | 106.1 | 28.467 |
| 4 | Chan / Weiler | USA | 10 | 107.4 | 28.482 |
| 5 | Eitberger / Schirmer | GER | 12 | 108.0 | 28.506 |
| 6 | Forgan / Kirkby | USA | 11 | 105.4 | 28.595 |
| 7 | Storch / Patz | GER | 16 | 105.3 | 28.613 |
| 8 | Egle / Kipp | AUT | 13 | 104.5 | 28.849 |
| 9 | Stramaturaru / Monolescu | ROU | 8 | 103.8 | 28.928 |
| 10 | Gulijienaiti / Zhao | CHN | 1 | 103.0 | 29.053 |
| 11 | Cezikova / Jansova | CZE | 5 | 103.1 | 29.146 |
| 12 | Stetskiv / Mokh | UKR | 7 | 100.1 | 29.340 |
| 13 | Ziedina / Zvilna | LAT | 9 | 102.5 | 29.705 |
| 14 | Degenhardt / Rosenthal | GER | 15 | 96.1 | 32.532 |
| 15 | Khytrenko / Koval | UKR | 2 | 95.2 | 33.096 |
