From Königssee, GER
Jan. 29, 2021 – Below are the Sprint World Championship results from the first day of the 50th FIL World Championships. Qualification races were held earlier in the day, with the top 15 from each moving into the World Championships race.
Men’s Luge
Nico Gleirscher won the first World Championship of his career in the men’s sprint race, beating out Semen Pavlichenko. The Austrian had a blistering run below Kreisel from the seventh starting position to move into the lead with eight sleds to go. Nobody could match Gleirscher’s time, with Pavlichenko coming within .041 for silver. David Gleirscher, Nico’s older brother and 2018 Olympic champion, finished .001 behind Pavlichenko for bronze.
World Cup champion Felix Loch finished fourth, a tenth of a second from the lead, while Dominik Fischnaller and Max Langenhan rounded out the top six.
The United States’ Tucker West was the only American to qualify for the race. He finished 13th. Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl had the two fastest intermediate splits of the race but crashed and finished 15th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | St. Speed | Finish |
| 1 | Nico Gleirscher | AUT | 7 | 79.6 km/h | 38.375 |
| 2 | Semen Pavlichenko | RLF | 13 | 79.5 | 38.416 |
| 3 | David Gleirscher | AUT | 12 | 79.1 | 38.417 |
| 4 | Felix Loch | GER | 15 | 79.5 | 38.485 |
| 5 | Dominik Fischnaller | ITA | 1 | 79.8 | 38.526 |
| 6 | Max Langenhan | GER | 11 | 79.6 | 38.532 |
| 7 | Roman Repilov | RLF | 10 | 82.8 | 38.544 |
| 8 | Kevin Fischnaller | ITA | 8 | 79.1 | 38.674 |
| 9 | Johannes Ludwig | GER | 14 | 79.3 | 38.721 |
| 10 | Gints Berzins | LAT | 4 | 79.5 | 38.739 |
| 11 | Arturs Darznieks | LAT | 9 | 79.4 | 38.938 |
| 12 | Tucker West | USA | 3 | 79.2 | 39.031 |
| 13 | Andriy Mandziy | UKR | 2 | 79.2 | 39.388 |
| 14 | Aleksandr Gorbatcevich | RLF | 5 | 79.5 | 40.451 |
| 15 | Wolfgang Kindl | AUT | 6 | 79.6 | 48.696 |
Doubles Luge
The Bayern Express, Tobias Wendl & Tobias Arlt, edged out Latvia’s Andris & Juris Sics in the doubles luge Sprint World Championship race. The German duo edged out the Latvians by just .014 for the spot, while fellow Germans Toni Eggert & Sascha Benecken finished third, .035 back.
The gold for Wendl & Arlt was their third Sprint World Championships title.
Fast qualifiers Thomas Steu & Lorenz Koller finished fourth, just under a tenth out of gold, while upstart Germans Hannes Orlamünder & Paul Gubitz finshed fifth. Latvians Oskars Gudramovics & Peteris Kalnins rounded out the top six.
Canada’s Tristan Walker & Justin Snith finished ninth. Chris Mazdzer & Jayson Terdiman just missed out on qualifying for Sprint World Championships with a 16th place finish.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | St. Speed | Finish |
| 1 | Wendl / Arlt | GER | 10 | 68.5 | 39.126 |
| 2 | Sics / Sics | LAT | 13 | 67.8 | 39.140 |
| 3 | Eggert / Benecken | GER | 14 | 68.5 | 39.161 |
| 4 | Steu / Koller | AUT | 15 | 68.2 | 39.225 |
| 5 | Orlamünder / Gubitz | GER | 5 | 67.9 | 39.240 |
| 6 | Gudramovics / Kalnins | LAT | 11 | 67.8 | 39.256 |
| 7 | Rieder / Kainzwaldner | ITA | 12 | 69.4 | 39.320 |
| 8 | Chmielewski / Kowalewski | POL | 4 | 68.1 | 39.362 |
| 9 | Walker / Snith | CAN | 3 | 68.2 | 39.368 |
| 10 | Nagler / Malleier | ITA | 9 | 67.8 | 39.397 |
| 11 | Botz / Plume | LAT | 1 | 69.0 | 39.420 |
| 12 | Kashkin / Korshunov | RLF | 8 | 68.0 | 39.485 |
| 13 | Buchnev / Kilseev | RLF | 2 | 69.7 | 39.487 |
| 14 | Denisev / Antonov | RLF | 7 | 68.1 | 39.669 |
| 15 | Müller / Frauscher | AUT | 6 | 68.2 | 39.899 |
Women’s Luge
Germany swept the top four spots in Königssee to finish out the first day of the 50th FIL World Championships. Julia Taubitz finished 14th in the qualification race to give her a second starting spot in the Sprint World Championships field. She set the fast time of the race from that spot, with the bulk of the field unable to get within .2 of her. Anna Berreiter came closest, .011 behind her, but otherwise it was a relative blowout.
Dajana Eitberger won bronze to complete the German sweep of the podium, while World Cup leader Natalie Geisenberger finished .021 out of the medals in fourth.
Viktoriia Demchenko and Tatyana Ivanova finished fifth and sixth.
Summer Britcher was the only American to qualify in the women’s Sprint World Championship race and finished seventh.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | St. Speed | Finish |
| 1 | Julia Taubitz | GER | 2 | 73.7 | 39.101 |
| 2 | Anna Berreiter | GER | 10 | 67.1 | 39.112 |
| 3 | Dajana Eitberger | GER | 14 | 67.7 | 39.300 |
| 4 | Natalie Geisenberger | GER | 13 | 67.6 | 39.321 |
| 5 | Viktoriia Demchenko | RLF | 15 | 67.6 | 39.322 |
| 6 | Tatyana Ivanova | RLF | 11 | 72.4 | 39.357 |
| 7 | Summer Britcher | USA | 12 | 67.3 | 39.416 |
| 8 | Lisa Schulte | AUT | 8 | 67.0 | 39.550 |
| 9 | Madeleine Egle | AUT | 9 | 69.3 | 39.561 |
| 10 | Ullz Zirne | LAT | 1 | 67.7 | 39.601 |
| 11 | Ekaterina Baturina | RLF | 3 | 67.3 | 39.632 |
| 12 | Hannah Prock | AUT | 6 | 66.5 | 39.842 |
| 13 | Kendija Aparjode | LAT | 7 | 67.2 | 39.931 |
| 14 | Ekaterina Katnikova | RLF | 5 | 66.8 | 40.101 |
| 15 | Andrea Vötter | ITA | 4 | 67.8 | 40.861 |
