Tobogganing

The Luge World Cup started with a Russian victory. Tatyana Ivanova became the best in women's single sleigh in Eagles under incredibly difficult weather conditions - the luge team had to fight at the first stage not so much with each other as with a strong wind and plus temperature.

Ivanova was able to win in this battle and rise from 13th place after the starting attempt to the first. This success is especially important due to the fact that this season the struggle for the "Big Crystal Globe" will be open as never before. The strong German team lost almost all of its leaders - the seven-time World Cup winner Natalie Geisenberger and Dayana Aytenberg went on maternity leave, and the luge veteran Tatyana Hüfner ended her career. In their absence, it was Ivanova who could become the first non-German athlete in 22 years to win the overall standings.

Russian @LugeTanja is the season's first Luge World Cup winner in Ladies' # Luge # Worldcup # Winterfans # Igls # LugeLovepic.twitter.com / 5vzMyOu6KD

- FIL Luge (@FIL_Luge) November 23, 2019

Following Ivanova, a great chance to climb the podium was a deuce Vsevolod Kashkin - Konstantin Korshunov. They walked third after the first descent, but were mistaken in the second. Experienced Vladislav Yuzhakov and Vladimir Makhnutin managed to rise due to the final attempt, but only in fourth place. Gold won the German duet Tony Eggert - Sasha Benecken.

In a similar way, the Russians performed in men's single sleighs. Alexander Gorbatsevich sensationally took the second place after the first attempt, but failed the second one against the background of all the same difficult weather conditions. But on the other hand, luck smiled to the owner of the 2017 World Cup, Roman Repilov. He jumped from 16th to second and began the season with a silver medal. The competition was won by Austrian Jonas Muller, the only one to make two worthy attempts. The current owner of the "Big Crystal Globe" Semyon Pavlichenko showed the seventh result.

Jonas Müller winner of 1st VIESSMANN World Cup pic.twitter.com/J4GKnMnTHW

- FIL Luge (@FIL_Luge) November 24, 2019

In the relay race, the Russian team did not work out again. Ivanova was immediately mistaken during her descent, and neither Yuzhakov and Makhnutin nor Repilov were able to catch up and rise above seventh place. Germany also performed unsuccessfully, which is a rather rare event, and the victory went to the Italian sleigh riders.

Skating

In the Polish city of Tomaszow Mazowiecki, the second stage of the World Cup in speed skating has ended. He brought the Russian team an even larger crop of awards than the first in Minsk.

Again, from the best side, girls showed themselves at short distances. Olga Fatkulina, Angelina Golikova and Daria Kachanova, who joined them instead of Irina Kuznetsova, won the team sprint. In the 500-meter races, Fatkulin and Kachanova could have repeated the success of a week ago and again took first and second places, but this time they skipped ahead of the Japanese Nao Kodaira.

👏Russia turn tables on rejigged Dutch line-up to win ladies' Team Sprint on Day 1 of World Cup in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland🇵🇱
🥇Russia
🥈Netherlands
🥉Japan
LIVE 🔴 | Day 1 | World Cup Tomaszów Mazowiecki 2019
▶ https://t.co/ldOnJ6tU13
# ⃣ # SpeedSkatingpic.twitter.com / xxRsaeQNBu

- ISU Speed ​​Skating (@ISU_Speed) November 22, 2019

The next victory in the Russian team was again won by the girls, already in the team pursuit. Eugenia Lalenkova, Elizaveta Kazelina and Natalya Voronina managed to interrupt a series of ten victories of Japanese girls, taking the upper hand in full-time confrontation, and also by only 0.12 seconds ahead of the Dutch. Lalenkova and Voronin also took bronze medals from Poland after the 1500 and 3000 meter races.

💥🤕Japanese ladies crash in Team Pursuit to end their 10-race winning streak in the event over past 3 seasons. 🇷🇺Russia win🥇 edging out 🇳🇱Netherlands🥈in final lap. 🇨🇦Canada🥉
🔢 Live Results - https://t.co/CPbydSJdmj
# ⃣ # SpeedSkatingpic.twitter.com / hPosFunADC

- ISU Speed ​​Skating (@ISU_Speed) November 23, 2019

The first personal award of the season was won by Daniil Semerikov, the main hope in long distances in men. He became the silver medalist in the 5000 meters race, losing only to the Dutchman Patrick Rust, who had gained a very powerful form. The third time was shown by Denis Yuskov, who at the same time won bronze at a distance of 1500 meters. Semerikov, Ruslan Zakharov and Alexander Rumyantsev ascended to the same lowest step of the podium following the results of the team pursuit race.

For male sprinters, things are still not going well. While another world record is being healed by world record holder Pavel Kulizhnikov, his partners were again left without medals in the team sprint, where the team was disqualified, and at a distance of 500 meters. The best in Poland was the world champion Ruslan Murashov, who took fifth place in the personal race.

Skiing

The first slalom competitions in the Alpine Skiing World Cup were held in Finnish Levi. The Russian team suffered a great loss before this start - the best slalom player of recent years, Alexander Khoroshilov, earned a closed finger fracture right in one of the last trainings. Although there was a possibility that he would perform with a specially imposed tire, he still did not take part. Khoroshilov should be back in operation in four weeks.

But in his absence, another Russian skier Pavel Trikhichev quite successfully performed. The winner of the World Cup stages in the super combination for the first time in two years was able to break into the second attempt in slalom and score cup points. Trikhichev took 24th place and thus brought the men's national team the third quota for participation in slalom. The victory was won by the Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen, for whom it is 16th gold in slalom. In his corporate discipline, he climbed to fourth place among men in the history of the World Cup in victories.

. @ H_Kristoffersen is back! The Norwegian wins #worldcuplevi with this fantastic second run and is back on top of the podium in slalom after almost two years.
It's his second victory in Levi! # fisalpinepic.twitter.com / Z3ZUoF8fFp

- FIS Alpine (@fisalpine) November 24, 2019

In the absolute standings, American Michaela Shiffrin, who in Levi for the 41st time, climbed the highest step of the podium according to the results of slalom descents, now leads in the absolute standings. She broke the absolute record of Ingemar Stenmark, set in February 1987. For Russians, the women's slalom is still a problem discipline. Ekaterina Tkachenko took 42nd place in her first attempt and ahead of schedule finished the competition.

That's how @MikaelaShiffrin wrote history today in #lLevi.
41st career slalom World Cup victory ahead of @WendyHoldener and #KathiTruppe, which makes her the most successful slalom skier of all time!#fisalpine@usskiteampic.twitter.com/spOZpVUb7w

- FIS Alpine (@fisalpine) November 23, 2019

Ski Jumping

Polish Wisla once again hosted the first stage of the men's Ski Jumping World Cup. A year ago, these competitions were sensationally won by Russian Eugene Klimov. But this time the start of the new season was not so joyful for the Russian team. At first, she was waiting for failure in the team tournament. Mikhail Nazarov was disqualified for the wrong suit, and the other three team members failed to compete for the second round.

In personal competitions, the results were also far from ideal. The second jump could only be made by Roman Trofimov, who eventually took 28th place. Klimov was only 40th. The last time he was left without cup points exactly a year ago right after his victory in the Vistula. And the Norwegian Daniel-Andre Tande was the first to know the success of this season.

The #winner: The second jump of Daniel Andre Tande in today's competition in #Wisla! # Skijumping # FISskijumpingpic.twitter.com / jvXQKHCXl0

- FIS Ski Jumping (@FISskijumping) November 24, 2019