Sunday December 12th 2021
“I don’t know when that happened”
Tobogganists marvel at the historic thousandth finals
Junior world champion Max Langenhan celebrates a special World Cup victory: after two runs, the tobogganist is at the top of the podium at exactly the same time as a competitor. It’s a thousandth of a second decision that makes for two winners.
Max Langenhan stole the show from the established tobogganists Johannes Ludwig and Felix Loch. The 22-year-old junior world champion from Friedrichroda raced from sixth place after the first run to first place in Altenberg and won his first World Cup victory in the Olympic winter. However, he had to share the success with the Austrian Wolfgang Kindl, who was at the same time to the thousandth of a second. Third was the Olympic third, Johannes Ludwig from Oberhof, ahead of Felix Loch.
“I’m very satisfied, I didn’t expect it. I don’t know when there was a thousandth decision,” said Langenhan, who won a sprint race in Winterberg last season and was also junior world champion on the track in Altenberg. The answer: never! Only in 1972, in the age of timekeeping, had there been a coincidence in the Luge World Cup to the nearest thousandth of a second. Back then, however, in a two-seater race.
In the women’s category, Madeleine Egle prevented a German triple success. World champion Julia Taubitz recognized the Austrian’s driving performance with no envy. The 25-year-old finished second in front of Anna Berreiter and Olympic champion Natalie Geisenberger. The two-seaters Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken just missed the win. As in the previous week in Sochi, the Thuringian duo came in second. The Austrian doubles Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller secured the victory. The Olympic champions Tobias Wendl / Tobias Arlt (Berchtesgaden / Königssee) finished fourth.
The German relay with Taubitz, Langenhan and the two-seaters Eggert and Benecken put a strong end to the World Cup in Altenberg. The team won ahead of Italy and Russia. The previously strong Austrians failed early on and had to settle for fifth place.