Repilov’s second victory and relay race error: how the Russian team rewrote the history of the Luge World Cup in Sochi

Golden double Repilova

Following the results of two days, the World Luge Championship in Sochi was the most successful for the Russian team. And on the four victories that ensured the victory in the medal standings, the Russian sleigh riders did not stop. On Sunday, February 16, the competition program ended with the men's single races and the team relay race, where the Russians also had great chances to please the fans.

The first to start the men's single sleigh was Alexander Gorbatsevich. The Russian luge immediately updated the six-year track record, owned by Felix Loch, stopping the stopwatch at 51.610 seconds. But this landmark did not last long. Gorbatsevich immediately moved Johannes Ludwig - the main hope of the German team in this discipline and the winner of the last two stages of the World Cup in a format with two races. The Russians won the bronze medalist of the Olympics won 0.071 seconds.

The third in line in the first attempt was Roman Repilov, who had already won gold in Sochi in the sprint. He reinforced the status of the favorite with even faster time, bypassing Ludwig by 0.026 seconds. After the descent, Repilov watched how the Latvian Inars Kivlenieks made a mistake while passing the track and how Semyon Pavlichenko updated the start record, which Andi Langenkhan owned the same six years. However, the winner of last year’s World Cup in Sochi did not become the best - Pavlichenko lost 0.150 seconds to Repilov and even ended up behind Gorbatsevich.

Only the Olympic champion David Gleirsher was able to move the leader from Russia, who was only six thousandths of a second short of sprint before gold. On the descent along the entire track, the Austrian defeated Repilov in 0.047 seconds, although at the start and in the first turns he lost to the Russian. The Austrian team generally looked pretty good in the first race - Jonas Müller later moved Gorbatsevich to fifth place, and Wolfgang Kindl dropped Pavlichenko to seventh. The winner of the Sochi Olympics, Felix Loch, didn’t have a descent again - he took the intermediate eighth line.

Austria's David Gleirscher is leading after the first heat. Second run starts in half an hour 🛷 # LugeWCh20 # LugeLove # Sochi # Worlds # Viessmann # BMW # Winterfanspic.twitter.com / IoxOMuqJQ6

In the second attempt, Latvian Christers Apiodes became the main troublemaker. One of the tallest sleigh riders, occupying 11th place, made a rapid descent and for a long time headed the protocol. Neither Pavlichenko nor Gorbatsevich managed to get around him, and the only Russian who could still claim medals was Repilov.

Before the 23-year-old athlete began his acceleration, Apaydos still dropped out of the first three, where Mueller, Kindle and Ludwig climbed. Repilov had a great start and passed the track without a single mistake - in no one of the sections did he lose more than a hundredth of a second in relation to Müller, whose second descent was just perfect. The world champion in the sprint lost a little in a single attempt, but in the amount he outstripped the Austrian by 0.032 seconds, securing himself at least silver.

It only remained to wait for the result of Gleirsher. Already during the dispersal, it became clear that it would be difficult for the Olympic champion to maintain an advantage, and soon he began to lag behind Repilov. He could not rectify the situation - in the middle of the highway, Gleirsher almost rolled over and lost control of the sleigh. The Austrian could not get to the end and was left without classification, and Repilov became the two-time world champion - the youngest since the time of Felix Loch.

“I understand that I won, I understand that this is cool. But still it would be much cooler if I got to the finish line Gleirsher and I won in a direct fight. But he turned over and did not finish at all. But in any case, the result is the result, I won. I am glad that I became the world champion. He was mistaken, this is nerves, this is sport. He fell on the spot where the speed is already high enough, he could not get into the desired trajectory and turned over, ”Repilov told RIA Novosti after the victory.

Russian Roman Repilov World Champion in Men's singles 🇷🇺🥇, Jonas Müller 🇦🇹🥈🛷 and Wolfgang Kindl 🇦🇹🥉 # LugeWCh20 # LugeLove # Worlds # Sochipic.twitter.com / 1kdh6z3BwY

Final failure

The World Cup ended with a team relay, where the Russian team had a truly star cast. Ekaterina Katnikova, Roman Repilov, Alexander Denisiev and Vladislav Antonov together won five gold medals and one silver in Sochi. Of course, this did not guarantee them yet another victory - a year ago the German sleigh riders also dominated in their personal forms, but they gave the Russians the gold in the relay.

Before the Russians got to the start, the German team took the lead, but gave a chance to get around. Julia Taubitz and Johannes Ludwig were mistaken at the finish counterclones, bringing a very small advantage to Tony Eggert and Sasha Beneken in double sleds. Alas, the Russian team did not give battle to the main rival - Katnikova later raised her hand to hit the tablet. Without this, the relay could not be passed, and the owners of the track were disqualified.

Historical result

According to the results of the World Cup in Sochi, the Russian team turned out to be five gold, two silver and one bronze medal, in total - eight awards. For sledding, this is a sensational result. The last time the overall medal classification of the World Cup in luge was headed not by Germany, but by another country, in 1994 - then Italy achieved a triumph.

The fact that the competition took place in Sochi on a track perfectly familiar to Russians does not detract from this achievement. All owners of toboggan runs tend to perform at home better than usual. In addition, it is in Germany that the world championships are held most often, and one can imagine what a huge advantage the German sleigh riders received each time.

In addition, in this season, the German sleigh riders themselves lost their positions quite strongly - in men's single sleighs at the World Cup stages they had only two out of ten possible victories, in doubles - five out of ten, and in the relay race - one out of four at all. At the same time, Russian sleigh riders escaped to second place in awards, so that no matter where the World Cup was held this year, the German team would still have to make room in these competitions.

After the main start of the season, there are still two stages of the World Cup in German Winterberg and Königssee on the luge calendar. According to their results, the Russians will have a chance to win two Crystal Globes in men's and women's single sleighs, where Roman Repilov and Tatyana Ivanova lead. The fate of all trophies will be determined on March 1.