Historical success: Russian sledgers won three gold and silver sprints at the World Cup in Sochi

Russian sleigh riders shockly began a performance at the home world championships on the Sanki track in Krasnaya Polyana. On the first day of the competition, dedicated to sprint races, the hosts won three gold medals and one silver. Russia became the third country after Germany and Austria, which won three victories in one world championship.

Sprint is a young discipline in luge. He entered the program of the world championships only in 2016. Athletes are given only one attempt, in which the countdown is carried out not when the sled leaves the starting town, but after passing through the control cutoff speed. At the same time, before qualifying for the medals, you still need to qualify - only 15 of the fastest are selected for the finals.

The first set of awards was played by men in double sleighs. For Russian fans, the main hopes were associated with Alexander Denisiev and Vladislav Antonov, who, on the same track, became silver medalists in the Sochi Olympics. A year ago, they won two golds at the home stage of the World Cup.

Denisyev and Antonov did not qualify in the best way - only with the eighth time, losing not only to the recognized favorites among the deuces, but also to competitors in the national team Vladislav Yuzhakov and Yuri Prokhorov. They did not succeed in the start in the final either - Denisiev and Antonov accelerated to only 77 kilometers per hour, while most sleigh riders approached 90. However, the Russian duo walked the track so cleanly that there were almost no doubts about its final triumph.

Neither the Germans who won the qualification Tony Eggert and Sasha Beneken, nor anyone else in the final, came close to the result of the current European champions. Only Yuzhakov and Prokhorov had a real chance to remove them from the first place. They went ahead of the entire distance, but still lagged behind in the lower section, so much so that they were left without medals. Denisiev and Antonov won historical gold in men's double sleighs - before them, the only victory in the history of domestic luge was won in 1978 by Dainis Bremze and Aigars Krikis.

“Of course, nice. The track in Sochi can be considered the happiest for us. When we finished, we understood that we would definitely fight if not for gold, then for medals, ”RIA Novosti quoted Denisyev as saying.

Sprint World Champions 🛷🥇 Denisev / Antonov 🇷🇺, 2nd 🥈 Rieder / Kainzwalder 🇮🇹 and 3rd 🥉 @ WendlArlt 🇩🇪 # LugeWCh20 # LugeLovepic.twitter.com / XAYZpRwMO6

Success could be expected in women's single sleigh. This season, which due to the birth of a child misses one of the best sleds in the history of Natalie Geisenberger, the Russians set out to certainly break the hegemony of German girls. So far, they have been completely successful in this - by the time they arrived in Sochi, Tatyana Ivanova led the World Cup overall standings, while Victoria Demchenko and Ekaterina Katnikova were among the top five.

On the home track, the girls immediately indicated their superiority - according to the results of qualification in the sprint, they took three first places. At the same time, the debate for the first line was led by Demchenko and Katnikova, who shared 0.012 hundredths of a second, and Ivanova, who won the silver medal in Sochi six years ago, became only the third with the best acceleration speed.

In the final, before the end of the competition, it became clear that the Russians will have the first gold in sprint in history and the second since 1978 in women's competitions. Ivanova accelerated as much as eight kilometers per hour faster than the intermediate leader Elitsa Zauce from Latvia and calmly shifted her from the first line. At the moment, only her teammates could get around the best sled in the world.

Katnikova was more fortunate. The 25-year-old athlete, who had not previously hit the podium of the World Cup stages, overtook Ivanova by only 0.008 seconds. The competition was completed by Victoria Demchenko, but she could not rise to the podium - her time became the fifth in the end. Katnikova celebrated a sensational victory, and Ivanova became the silver medalist of the World Cup for the fifth time.

World Champion in BMW Sprint 🥇 Ekaterina Katnikova 🇷🇺, 2nd 🥈 @LugeTanja 🇷🇺 and 3rd 🥉 Eliza Cauze 🇱🇻 # LugeWCh20 # LugeLove # Sochi # BMW # Viessmannpic.twitter.com / pyMrVbUyoN

The winning series continued in men's single sleighs, where there were even more Russian applicants for gold. Roman Repilov was considered the main favorite - he not only leads in the overall standings of the World Cup, but also won the current season in sprint races. In addition to him, family fans could be pleased with last year’s bronze medalist Semyon Pavlichenko and high-ranking qualifiers Alexander Gorbatsevich and Maxim Aravin.

However, Repilov might not have justified his status - according to the results of qualification, he turned out to be the worst of the Russians and made it to the finals with only ninth time. However, in the final, Roman once again proved that it was not in vain considered one of the best in his field. On the control site, he rushed for 34.901 seconds, almost leaving no chance to rivals. As close as possible to Repilov, the Austrian David Gleirsher approached - he only had six thousandths of a second to go the distance at one time. As a result, the 23-year-old Russian celebrated his first victory at the World Cup.

World Champion in BMW Sprint 🥇 Roman Repilov 🇷🇺, 2nd 🥈 David Gleirscher 🇦🇹and 3rd 🥉 @DominikFisch 🇮🇹 # LugeWCh20 # LugeLove # Sochi # BMW # Viessmannpic.twitter.com / e0o49MJtRv

“The gold medal at the World Championships in Sochi is worth all the world medals that I have. Because it is at the limit of emotions. It’s good that I didn’t cry. I am very glad to win, there can be nothing better than a home world championship, except for the Sochi Olympics. I dedicate my victory to my daughter, wife and mother. Because each of them occupies a large place in my heart. He finally believed in triumph after Pavlichenko drove because he performs well here, ”said Repilov.

The World Cup in Sochi will last until February 16. On Saturday and Sunday, athletes will play four more sets of awards: in the classic races of two slopes (men, women and deuces), as well as in the mixed relay, where the Russians will defend last year's title.