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The European Luge Championships ended with the triumph of Natalie Geisenberger and Latvia, staged on the splendid Olympia Bob Run in Sankt Moritz.
Monday 24 January 2022 5 minutes reading time
The German champion manages to get on the top step of the podium in the last round of the season before the Beijing Olympic Games, she who in previous races had had to give way to the youngest team campaign Julia Taubitz and the emerging Austrian Madeleine Egle. The thirty-three year old Bavarian, mother of little Leo, on the only natural gut of the entire circuit finds the right feeling with her sled and gets her 52nd victory and the fifth continental title of her incredible career.
Geisenberger preceded Madeleine Egle by 155 thousandths, good at recovering ground at the Teutonic and hitting her ninth podium of the season out of twelve races. Third place for the young Latvian Elina Ieva Vitola who, almost 12 months after her first success in the World Cup, returns to get on the podium, revealing an evident particular feeling with the fantastic Olympia Bob Run.
Fourth position for Julia Taubitz who, although not completely satisfied with her performance, can celebrate with the conquest of her second Crystal Ball of her career. The young German, like her rival Egle, who won one more race this season, will start with the odds in the Olympic appointment even if both should not underestimate the veteran Geisenberger who, race after race, seems to be back in top form and who in Beijing she aims to become (solo ed) the female athlete with the most medal ever at the Olympic Games in the singles specialty.
The topfive is completed by a newfound Tatyana Ivanova returned to full service after the injury reported at the beginning of the season, while for the Italian colors we note the excellent performance of Verena Hofer ninth who had closed the first descent in sixth place. The young blue was preceded in the standings by only one position by the more experienced teammate Andrea Voetter, while Nina Zoeggeler and Sandra Robatscher finished in fifteenth and sixteenth place respectively.
In the final team test, a surprising victory for Latvia that thanks to two very solid fractions by the singles Vitola and Aparjods manages to beat the very favorite Germany on the field that lined up Geisenberger, Ludwig and Eggert-Benecken. Third position for Russia, which preceded by almost half a second the Italy that presented itself at the start with the formation that in all probability we will see in Beijing 2022, or with Andrea Voetter at the launch, Dominik Fischnaller in second and close the double Rieder -Kainzwaldner. Austria does not finish its race, penalized by the waiting Madeleine Egle who, missing the touch of the pan, has ousted the strong red and white team from the final classification.
With the competitions of Sankt Moritz the 2021-22 season of the Luge World Cup goes to the archive, now the athletes will observe a small break period to find the right energy in view of the Olympic competitions that will start on Saturday 5 February with the single male.
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