World champion Julia Taubitz from Oberwiesenthal narrowly missed her first Luge World Cup victory on the new Olympic track in Beijing. The 25-year-old had to be content with second place behind the strong Austrian Madeleine Egle at the start of the season on Sunday on the track for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. Double Olympic champion Natalie Geisenberger (Miesbach) was only 26th due to a fall in the first run, although she managed the fourth-best time in the second run. Dajana Eitberger did not drive cleanly through the ice channel either. Julia Taubitz had a lead in the second round, but it melted at the end due to a fall that was just caught and was not enough to win.
The two-time Olympic champion Felix Loch had to discover that the new ice channel leads to mistakes with great effect.
But he was still second behind his German compatriot Johannes Ludwig and in front of his team-mate Max Langenhan.
“It's a great start and it's nice to be up there with three of them,” said Langenhan.
The Thuringian doubles Toni Eggert / Sascha Benecken completed the successful start of the World Cup with their victory.
“Nobody went flawlessly on the demanding track.
What is special is that the track is extremely long, which means that you have to focus and concentrate for a very long time, ”said Eggert.
In the team relay, Germany ended up only in seventh place.