Taubitz Leads German Women’s Luge Podium Sweep

November 29, 2020 ken Luge News, News 0

From Igls, AUT

(Nov. 29, 2020) – With teammates Natalie Geisenberger and Dajana Eitberger both out for the season on maternity leave, Julia Taubitz was left as the top slider for Germany. With that title she won the overall World Cup title, winning a handful of World Cup races along the way. With the 2018 Olympic gold and silver medalists back, Tau

Julia Taubitz (Courtesy FIL TV)

bitz showed that she’s not going to give up the title of “top German slider” too easily.

Taubitz set the fastest time in both heats to on her way to victory to open the 2020/2021 World Cup season in Igls. She was the only slider to have both runs in the 40.1 range and finished over a tenth ahead of Geisenberger.

Geisenberger, who is six months removed from giving birth to her son Leo, had a small skid in her first run that may have cost her the quick time in the first heat. Her second trip down the Austrian track was nearly perfect, and was enough to give her a silver medal in her return to action.

Like her teammate Geisenberger, Dajana Eitberger missed the 2019/2020 season on maternity leave, and like Geisenberger she returned to action as a medalist. The Olympic sliver medalist came into the second heat in fifth place, but moved up into third with the third-quickest run of the second heat.

World Champion Ekaterina Katnikova finished fourth, just ahead of Austrian Madeeine Egle in fifth. Egle’s teammate, Lisa Schulte, tied a career best finish with a sixth place effort.

Last season’s World Cup runner up Tatyana Ivanova had an awful second run that saw her fall from tenth to 20th.

The United States, Canada, and China are all sitting out the first portion of the FIL World Cup season due to COVID travel restrictions and general safety concerns.

Results:

Pos Name Nation Bib Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Total
1 Julita Taubitz GER 25 2.139 2.146 40.177 40.112 1:20.289
2 Natalie Geisenberger GER 18 2.145 2.133 40.262 40.147 1:20.409
3 Dajana Eitberger GER 16 2.132 2.148 40.333 40.226 1:20.559
4 Ekaterina Katnikova RUS 20 2.155 2.157 40.276 40.320 1:20.596
5 Madeleine Egle AUT 23 2.127 2.121 40.267 40.381 1:20.648
6 Lisa Schulte AUT 15 2.123 2.116 40.412 40.324 1:20.736
7 Cheyenne Rosenthal GER 17 2.120 2.111 40.462 40.311 1:20.773
8 Viktoriia Demchenko RUS 26 2.157 2.134 40.489 40.328 1:20.817
9 Andrea Vötter ITA 19 2.129 2.148 40.450 40.369 1:20.819
10 Nina Zöggler ITA 9 2.146 2.143 40.475 40.381 1:20.856
11 Kendija Aparjode LAT 21 2.133 2.138 40.495 40.379 1:20.874
12 Eliza Tiruma LAT 27 2.133 2.137 40.419 40.459 1:20.878
13 Verena Hofer ITA 14 2.138 2.136 40.584 40.383 1:20.967
14 Hannah Prock AUT 13 2.154 2.157 40.476 40.508 1:20.984
15 Ulla Zirne LAT 22 2.168 2.171 40.579 40.462 1:21.041
16 Marion Oberhofer ITA 11 2.119 2.120 40.585 40.493 1:21.078
17 Ekaterina Baturina RUS 12 2.133 2.144 40.565 40.523 1:21.088
18 Natale Maag SUI 24 2.166 2.177 40.599 40.526 1:21.125
19 Katarina Simonakova SVK 5 2.165 2.157 40.688 40.613 1:21.301
20 Tatyana Ivanova RUS 28 2.110 2.107 40.473 40.849 1:21.322
21 Barbara Allmaier AUT 8 2.159 2.148 40.770 40.553 1:21.323
22 Raluca Stramaturaru ROU 6 2.145 2.130 40.849 40.492 1:21.341
23 Sigta Berzina LAT 10 2.120 2.115 40.732 40.725 1:21.457
24 Mihaela-Carmen Manolescu ROU 1 2.147 2.162 40.883 40.907 1:21.790
25 Veronica Ravenna ARG 4 2.209 2.134 40.959 40.888 1:21.847
26 Cezara Curmei ROU 2 2.177 2.188 41.054 41.063 1:22.117
27 Olena Smaha UKR 7 2.174 2.164 41.364 40.787 1:22.151
28 Hyesun Jung KOR 3 2.185 2.203 41.372 40.986 1:22.358