Luge
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Bitter final for sledding Italy in Sankt Moritz in the last seasonal round of the World Cup. On the legendary Olympia Bob Run the blue Dominik Fischnaller, leader at the end of the first heat, fails to repeat himself in the second and decisive descent falling from the first to the eighth position thus saying goodbye to the second victory of the season and above all to the second European title of the career.
Saturday 22 January 2022 7 minutes reading time
The Carabiniere of Maranza, today was nothing short of impeccable during the first round where he made the most of the excellent materials that the blue technicians made available to him, making the difference in the final stretch where the highest are touched speed peaks. When everything seemed set for the blue triumph, in the last lap Fischnaller made several smears in the central part of the splendid Swiss gut, compromising his performance and sinking off the podium.
A final twist that opened the doors to the victory of the Austrian Wolfgang Kindl, good at taking advantage of the Italian's harakiri but also of the German Johannes Ludwig, new World Cup winner, who slipped from the provisional second position to in tenth place. For the veteran of the Austrian team comes the third success of the season, the tenth of his career, but above all the first European title, a truly encouraging show of strength for Kindl who can now look forward to the highlight of the season, the Beijing Olympic Games. , with greater confidence in their own means. In fact, in China, the 28-year-old South Tyrolean will leave among the eligible candidates for a place on the podium and the message sent today to his opponents is quite emblematic.
Behind the Austrian trailing by just 21 thousandths was placed the young Kristers Aparjods who confirms that he is now among the big names in this discipline, while in third position the youngest of the Gleirscher brothers, Nico, who legitimizes with the first podium of the season and his first continental medal the call-up for his first Olympic Games.
TopFive is closed by a disappointed Felix Loch who in Sankt Moritz confirmed the trend of this season, the one who sees him unable to put together two heats of the same tenor. In fact, the Bavarian champion had closed the first heat in ninth place then in the second he managed to improve by climbing up to just 65 thousandths from the podium. Today's result and season aside, Loch still remains one of the favorites for the gold medal at the next Beijing Games, his enormous experience in managing races over a distance of four heats accompanied by a sense of revenge against the Pyeongchang debacle and combined with the valuable advice and suggestions in terms of choice of materials by a master of the caliber of Georg Hackl make the German one of the main suspects for the five-circle gold.
At Casa Italia, the happy note came from the young Leon Felderer, who was good at finishing in sixth position, obtaining the best result of his career in the last race before the Olympic Games. Also in the Italian context, tenth place for Kevin Fischnaller and twenty-sixth for Lukas Gufler.
The men's singles race was preceded by the doubles test, where Germany took the second consecutive double with Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken who went to take each other in one fell swoop: stage victory, European title and overall standings of the European Cup. World. The Thuringian duo who, on the eve of the race, was behind the Latvian Sics-Sics in the Cup rankings, managed to overtake in the last round of the season, taking home the sixth Crystal Ball of their career.
Eggert-Benecken preceded the compatriots Wendl-Arlt by 113 thousandths, while third came the young Latvian Bots-Plume who preceded the blues Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner by just 31 thousandths. Only fifth are the Sics brothers who see the possibility of seizing the first World Cup of their career vanish at the last race. Thus the other two blue doubles: seventh Rieder-Rastner and tenth Nagler-Malleier.
Tomorrow with the women's test and with the relay the curtain will fall on this season of the Luge World Cup, for the singles and the doubles players appointment in the second week of February with the Olympic competitions in Beijing 2022.
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