From Igls, AUT
(Nov. 25, 2018) – The opening weekend of the FIL World Cup marked the first weekend of the FIL Sprint World Cup as well. Below are the results.
Women’s Luge
The German women collected every available medal in Igls, backing up a swept podium in the World Cup with a podium sweep in the Sprint.
Once again two-time women’s luge Olympic gold medalist Natalie Geisenberger won gold, with Julia Taubitz finishing with a silver medal, just .022 off of Geisenberger’s pace. Olympic silver medalist Dajana Eitberger, who finished eighth in the World Cup event, took bronze.
Summer Britcher was the only North American to make the Sprint event, finishing just out of the medals in fourth.
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | St. Speed | Finish |
| 1 | Natalie Geisenberger | GER | 15 | 73.9 km/h | 29.887 |
| 2 | Julia Taubitz | GER | 14 | 73.7 | 29.909 |
| 3 | Dajana Eitberger | GER | 8 | 73.5 | 29.944 |
| 4 | Summer Britcher | USA | 10 | 74.1 | 30.104 |
| 5 | Birgit Platzer | AUT | 6 | 73.9 | 30.140 |
| 6 | Tatyana Ivanova | RUS | 12 | 73.9 | 30.218 |
| 7 | Andrea Vötter | ITA | 11 | 74.1 | 30.228 |
| 8 | Raluca Stramaturaru | ROU | 2 | 73.8 | 30.249 |
| 9 | Ekaterina Baturina | RUS | 4 | 73.9 | 30.291 |
| 10 | Ekaterina Katnikova | RUS | 3 | 73.6 | 30.301 |
| 11 | Kendija Aparjode | LAT | 7 | 74.1 | 30.325 |
| 12 | Eliza Cauce | LAT | 1 | 73.9 | 30.339 |
| 13 | Viktoriia Demchenko | RUS | 9 | 73.7 | 30.379 |
| 14 | Madeleine Egle | AUT | 5 | 74.1 | 30.463 |
| 15 | Tatjana Hüfner | GER | 13 | 69.8 | 30.927 |
Doubles Luge
Thomas Steu & Lorenz Koller backed up their World Cup win with a gold medal in the Sprint World Cup, beating World Cup bronze medalists Vladislav Huzhakov & Iurii Prokhorov by .059. Tobias Wendl & Tobias Arlt finished less than a tenth off of a gold medal in third.
Canadians Tristan Walker & Justin Snith finished eighth, just ahead of Americans Chris Mazdzer and Jayson Terdiman in ninth. The race was the first Sprint World Cup for the American duo.
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | St. Speed | Finish |
| 1 | Steu / Koller | AUT | 15 | 74.8 km/h | 29.916 |
| 2 | Yuzhakov / Prokhorov | RUS | 13 | 74.9 | 29.975 |
| 3 | Wendl / Arlt | GER | 9 | 75.2 | 30.002 |
| 4 | Sics / Sics | LAT | 10 | 74.4 | 30.033 |
| 5 | Eggert / Benecken | GER | 14 | 74.9 | 30.038 |
| 6 | Putins / Marcinkevics | LAT | 12 | 74.4 | 30.091 |
| 7 | Rieder / Rastner | ITA | 11 | 74.4 | 30.123 |
| 8 | Walker / Snith | CAN | 4 | 75.2 | 30.153 |
| 9 | Mazdzer / Terdiman | USA | 6 | 74.5 | 30.167 |
| 10 | Chmielewski / Kowalewski | POL | 8 | 75.0 | 30.189 |
| 11 | Geueke / Gamm | GER | 7 | 74.7 | 30.190 |
| 12 | Vavercak / Zmij | SVK | 3 | 74.2 | 30.380 |
| 13 | Hoi / Levkovych | UKR | 1 | 74.5 | 30.503 |
| 14 | Gitlan / Craciun | ROU | 5 | 72.8 | 30.541 |
| 15 | Park / Kang | KOR | 2 | 74.4 | 30.701 |
Men’s Luge
Wolfgang Kindl made a mistake in the first heat of the World Cup event which likely cost him a gold medal. In the Sprint World Cup he was as flawless as he needed to be, winning gold by .030 over Russian Aleksandr Gorbatcevich.
German Felix Loch finished with a bronze medal, .014 ahead of World Cup gold medalist Johannes Ludwig.
Jonathan Gustafson finished seventh as the lone North American in the field.
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | St. Speed | Finish |
| 1 | Wolfgang Kindl | AUT | 13 | 85.2 | 32.560 |
| 2 | Aleksandr Gorbatcevich | RUS | 3 | 85.1 | 32.590 |
| 3 | Felix Loch | GER | 10 | 85.0 | 32.661 |
| 4 | Johannes Ludwig | GER | 15 | 85.4 | 32.675 |
| 5 | David Gleirscher | AUT | 12 | 86.1 | 32.679 |
| 6 | Max Langenhan | GER | 4 | 85.5 | 32.681 |
| 7 | Jonathan Gustafson | USA | 1 | 85.3 | 32.713 |
| 8 | Dominik Fischnaller | ITA | 14 | 85.0 | 32.721 |
| 9 | Semen Pavlichenko | RUS | 11 | 85.2 | 32.732 |
| 10 | Kevin Fischnaller | ITA | 8 | 85.0 | 32.735 |
| 11 | Roman Repilov | RUS | 7 | 85.1 | 32.739 |
| 12 | Stepan Fedorov | RUS | 2 | 84.9 | 32.755 |
| 13 | Nico Gleirscher | AUT | 5 | 85.1 | 32.806 |
| 14 | Chris Eißler | GER | 9 | 85.1 | 32.841 |
| 15 | Reinhard Egger | AUT | 6 | 85.4 | 34.103 |
