Skier Julia Taubitz jumped from 22nd place to victory at the World Cup on home soil in Altenburg on Sunday (February 4, 2024). On Saturday, Max Langenhahn also conjured up a crazy return to Channel Ice.
Taubitz had no chance in the first round. The track was very slow as the best German driver pushed herself hard with her hands. At 54.774 seconds, the local champion was almost one second slower than first-half leader Verena Hofer of Italy, who benefited from an early start number.
Weather as a deciding factor
In the second round the picture changed: Taubitz was early and now took advantage. She raced across the difficult icy track in 53.197 seconds. At this point, all opponents were biting their teeth. Topitz won by 0.149 seconds, ahead of Elena Eva Vitola from Latvia and Austrian Lisa Schulte. “It was a weather race, of course it's nice to win, but you're not as happy with it as you would be in stormy weather,” Taubitz said. “I wouldn't have thought of that. That was the plan already.” “In the first round in a good midfield, I made some small mistakes that ended up being very practical.”
For her second win of the season, Taubitz took advantage of crazy weather conditions: the track was increasingly deteriorating in the warm six degrees. The back start numbers (Taubitz started third from last) initially had a disadvantage in the first round, but then gained an advantage in the final thanks to the early start number.
Anna Bereiter also made a huge leap forward. In nineteenth place after the first round, it improved to fourth place. Melina Fischer and Merle Vrabel were fifth and sixth in the race at the end of the first, but were unable to improve in the final with their high starting number. In the end, there were sixth and seventh places, thus a strong result for the German team.
Langenhahn makes an angry comeback
On Saturday (February 3, 2024), Max Langenhan was already back in force and claimed his fifth World Cup victory this winter. In the first half he was still in 21st place before leaving the entire competition behind him thanks to a brilliant second round.
The team follows up at the end
The exciting weeks in Altenburg – with the World Cup last weekend – end on Sunday with the team relay (12 noon live on Sportschau.de and 2:30 pm on Sportschau). The German Lugers will continue next weekend with the next World Cup on home soil in Oberhof.
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