Karsten Albert

Karsten Albert (born October 13, 1968 in Friedrichroda ) is a former German luge athlete .

Karsten Albert started toboggan in 1978 on the Spießbergbahn in his place of birth. In 1988 he achieved his first success with the bronze medal at the GDR championships in Oberhof . In the 1989/90 World Cup season, he finished eighth overall. With the political change came the sporting end, because the German Luge Association initially relied on the Olympic champion Jens Müller , Georg Hackl and young riders like René Friedl . During that time he retrained to become a power electronics technician. He celebrated a surprising comeback at the German Championships in 1992 . The title win that year should remain his only title, in 1998 he was runner-up, in 1995 and 2004 third. Especially towards the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s, Albert was one of the world's best in luge. At the 1999 Luge World Championships he finished eighth in Königssee . A year later in St. Moritz , he missed a possible medal in fourth place due to driving errors in both rounds. In 2001 he was ninth again in Calgary . With the team he won the silver medal.

The European Championships were more successful. Here he won gold with the team and silver in the individual in Oberhof in 1998. In 2000, the team won another silver medal. Albert took part in the Olympic Games twice. In 1998 he was twelfth in Nagano and sixth four years later in Salt Lake City . In the overall World Cup Albert was fourth in 1999/2000 , as well as in the following season , where he was able to win his only two World Cup races in Oberhof as well as in the 2001/02 season . Also in his last season 2002/03 he reached a seventh place overall. After that he could no longer qualify for the World Cup team and ended his career.

Albert studied sports management and sports marketing with Jens Müller in Jena , but was unable to graduate here because of the exams that overlapped with competitions. He acquired the coaching certificates C to A and has been a junior coach at the Thuringian Sled and Bobsled Association since April 2002. In 2003 he began studying at the German Sport University in Cologne . He is currently a base trainer in Oberhof and chairman of BRC 05 Friedrichroda . Albert is married and has one daughter.

successes

World Cup victories

Single seater

No.	date	place	train
1.	0Dec 3, 2000	Oberhof	Oberhof luge track
2.	Dec 13, 2001	innsbruck	Igls artificial ice rink bobsleigh

Web links

• Karsten Albert in the database of the International Luge Federation
• Portrait at insuedthueringen.de