European Luge Championships 2008

The 41st European Luge Championships were organized in Cesana in 2008 . The continental title fights organized by the Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course were held on January 12th and 13th, 2008. There were competitions in single-seaters for men and women, doubles for men and with the relay. With the exception of the last competition, all competitions were decided in two runs.

The most successful team was the Italian team, which won two gold medals in the men's singles and doubles. With just one gold medal, Germany achieved the worst record since the European Luge Championships in 1994 , when the team was without a gold medal. In particular, fourth place in the team competition was viewed as a disgrace. Very surprisingly, the Latvian team won gold there. Austria won silver twice in doubles and with the team and was able to win bronze in the women's race, breaking into the phalanx of German starters who had previously occupied the first three places in all races of the World Cup season .

space	country	gold	silver	bronze	total
1.	Italy	2	0	2	4th
2.	Germany	1	1	2	4th
3.	Latvia	1	0	0	1
4th	Austria	0	2	1	3
5.	Russia	0	1	0	1

Women

space	athlete	country	Terms	time
1	Natalie Geisenberger	Germany	47,529 47,772	1: 35.364
2	Silke Kraushaar-Pielach	Germany	47,577 47,947	1: 35.524 +0.160
3	Veronika Halder	Austria	47,653 47,878	1: 35.531 +0.167
4th	Tatjana Huefner	Germany	47,662 47,878	1: 35.540 +0.176
5	Nina Reithmayer	Austria	47,713 47,971	1: 35.684 +0.320
6th	Anke Wischnewski	Germany	47,813 47,962	1: 35.776 +0.412
7th	Maija Tīruma	Latvia	47,974 48,124	1: 36.099 +0.735
8th	Anna Orlova	Latvia	47,923 48,220	1: 36,134 +1,779
9	Lilia Ludan	Ukraine	48.203 48.180	1: 36,383 +1,019
10	Alexandra Rodionova	Russia	48,068 48,333	1: 36,401 +1,037
11	Martina Kocher	Switzerland	48.100 48.322	1: 36,422 +1,058
12	Sandra Gasparini	Italy	48.286 48.282	1: 36,568 +1,204
13	Sarah Podorieszach	Italy	48,405 48,479	1: 36,884 +1,520
14th	Natalja Jakuschenko	Ukraine	47,633 49,296	1: 36,929 +1,565
15th	Xenia Tschiplakowa	Russia	48,446 48,534	1: 36,980 +1,616
16	Jana Sisajova	Slovakia	48,703 48,702	1: 37.405 +2.041
17th	Raluca Strămăturaru	Romania	48,970 48,801	1: 37,771 +2,407
18th	Veronika Sabolová	Slovakia	49,443 48,757	1: 38,200 + 2,836
19th	Natalia Khorjowa	Russia	49.165 49.080	1: 38.245 +2.881
20th	Tatiana Newsorova	Russia	49,698 49,524	1: 39.222 +3.858
21st	Mihaela Chiraş	Romania		49,913
22nd	Petra Kaprasová	Czech Republic		50.128

Date: January 12, 2008
A total of 22 athletes took part. The last two starters were eliminated for the second run. Due to the heavy snowfall, the race started one hour late. The external conditions were difficult because of the snowfall, especially for later starters.

The favorites were Tatjana Hüfner , who won the last four races of the Luge World Cup 2007/2008 before the European Championship. In addition, all other German starters, above all defending champion Silke Kraushaar-Pielach , were given title chances. All other starters had at most outsider chances, as the German athletes had been unbeaten in all important races for more than ten years.

After the first run, Kraushaar-Pielach was ahead. She was followed by the young German starter Natalie Geisenberger in her first continental title competition and the Ukrainian Natalja Jakuschenko . Hüfner was only fifth, Anke Wischnewski even only seventh. Austrian Veronika Halder also had good chances for a medal in fourth place.

Natalie Geisenberger was the best driver in the second run. Since Kraushaar-Pielach only reached the fourth run in their last run in the context of a European championship, Geisenberger won her first important race somewhat surprisingly. With the second best run, Halder was able to push past Jakuschenko, whose run failed completely, she was only 19th. Wischnewski and Hüfner were each able to improve by one place. In the end, Hüfner was nine thousandths of a second short of the bronze medal.

In the end, the four German athletes were all able to place in the top six. The title fights also went very well for the Austrian team, which not only won a medal through Halder, but also took another place in the top six with Nina Reithmayer . The two starters from Latvia followed behind the Germans and Austrians.

Two-seater men

space	athlete	country	Terms	time
1	Christian Oberstolz Patrick Gruber	Italy	46,889 46,890	1: 33.779
2	Andreas Linger Wolfgang Linger	Austria	46,995 46,943	1: 33.938 +0.159
3	Gerhard Plankensteiner Oswald Haselrieder	Italy	47,067 46,895	1: 33.962 +0.183
	Patric Leitner Alexander Resch	Germany	46,908 47,054	1: 33.962 +0.183
5	André Florschütz Torsten Wustlich	Germany	47,174 47,013	1: 34.187 +0.408
6th	Peter Penz Georg Fischler	Austria	47.160 47.210	1: 34.370 +0.591
7th	Andris Šics Juris Šics	Latvia	47.274 47.143	1: 34.417 +0.638
8th	Mikhail Kuzmich Stanislav Michejew	Russia	47,371 47,304	1: 34.675 +0.896
9	Marcel Lorenz Christian Baude	Germany	47,523 47,407	1: 34,930 +1,151
10	Ivan Newmerzhizky Vladimir Prokhorov	Russia	47,534 47,419	1: 35,953 +1,174
11	Hans Peter Fischnaller Klaus Kofler	Italy	47,572 47,591	1: 35.163 +1.384
12	Vladislav Yushakov Vladimir Makhnutin	Russia	47,728 47,679	1: 35,407 +1,628
13	Ján Harniš Branislav Regec	Slovakia	47,660 47,987	1: 35,407 +1,868
14th	Andrij Kis Yuri Haiduk	Ukraine	48,031 47,814	1: 35,845 +2,066
15th	Cosmin Chetroiu Ionuț Țăran	Romania	48,038 47,980	1: 36.018 +2.239
16	Antonín Brož Lukáš Brož	Czech Republic	48,466 48,293	1: 36,759 +2,980
17th	Markus Schiegl Tobias Schiegl	Austria	48,392 DNS	0: 48.392

Date: January 12, 2008
A total of 17 toboggan doubles were at the start.

The favorites for the title were Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch from Germany, as well as Christian Oberstolz and Patrick Gruber from Italy. All other doubles from Germany, Austria and Italy - apart from Hans Peter Fischnaller and Klaus Kofler  - could at least hope for a podium place. Leitner / Resch were handicapped by Leitner's illness.

Oberstolz / Gruber achieved the best time in the first run, followed by Leitner and Resch in second place with a gap of just three hundredths of a second. The Austrian Linger brothers followed in third place, ahead of Gerhard Plankensteiner and Oswald Haselrieder . The first run didn't bring any surprises. The Austrian double Schiegl / Schiegl did not start the second run while in 16th place.

In the second run, too, Oberstolz / Gruber set the fastest time and thus won the title by adding up the two runs. Due to the illness and minor driving errors in the second run, Leitner / Resch only achieved fifth place. In the end, they came in third at the same time as Plankensteiner / Haselrieder, who set the second-best time in the second run. The silver medal was won by Linger / Linger, who achieved the third-best time in both races.

The title fights in the two-seater didn't bring any real surprises. The first seven places went to the two-seaters, who were expected at the front.

Men

space	athlete	country	Terms	time
1	Armin Zöggeler	Italy	52.254 52.087	1: 44.361
2	Albert Demchenko	Russia	52.456 52.226	1: 44.682 +0.341
3	David Möller	Germany	52,443 52,301	1: 44.744 +0.403
4th	Daniel Pfister	Austria	52,370 52,399	1: 44.769 +0.428
5	Martin adventure	Austria	52,458 52,347	1: 44.815 +0.474
6th	Felix Hole	Germany	52,505 52,345	1: 44.850 +0.509
7th	Stefan Höhener	Switzerland	52,627 52,270	1: 44.897 +0.556
8th	Wilfried Huber	Italy	52,663 52,484	1: 45.147 +0.806
9	Jan Eichhorn	Germany	52,699 52,480	1: 45.149 +0.808
10	Manuel Pfister	Austria	52,747 52,470	1: 45.217 +0.876
11	Mārtiņš Rubenis	Latvia	52,751 52,618	1: 45,369 +1,028
12	Wolfgang Kindl	Austria	52,804 52,637	1: 45,441 +1,100
13	Inārs Kivlenieks	Latvia	52,712 52,731	1: 45.443 +1.102
14th	David Mair	Italy	52,778 52,677	1: 45,455 +1,114
15th	Viktor Kneib	Russia	52,897 52,564	1: 45,461 +1,120
16	Adam Rosen	United Kingdom	52,987 52,790	1: 45,777 +1,436
17th	Andi Langenhan	Germany	52,924 52,964	1: 45,888 +1,547
18th	Jozef Ninis	Slovakia	53,086 52,960	1: 46.046 +1.705
19th	Patrick Schwienbacher	Italy	53.009 53.048	1: 46.057 +1.716
20th	Gregory Carigiet	Switzerland	53,247 52,867	1: 46.114 +1.773
21st	Guntis Rēķis	Latvia	52,928 53,585	1: 46,513 +2,172
22nd	Stepan Fyodorov	Russia	53,463 53,177	1: 46,640 +2,299
23	Maxim Andrianov	Russia	53,596 53,102	1: 46,698 + 2,357
24	Jakub Hyman	Czech Republic	53,788 53,185	1: 46.973 +2.632
25th	Eugene Radu	Romania	54,516 53,882	1: 48,398 +4,057
26th	Bogdan Macovei	Moldova		0: 56.479
27	Peter Iliev	Bulgaria		0: 56,546
28	Ivan Papukciev	Bulgaria		0: 56.797

Date: January 13, 2008
There were a total of 28 tobogganers at the start. Only the best 25 starters from the first run qualified for the second run.

The favorites for the title were the two leaders of the Luge World Cup 2007/2008 , Armin Zöggeler from Italy, who had a home advantage in Cesana, and David Möller from Germany. Above all, Albert Demtschenko and Jan Eichhorn were given outsider opportunities.

Armin Zöggeler dominated the first run. The young Austrian Daniel Pfister was a surprising second . After several minor driving errors, Möller came third ahead of Demtschenko. Jan Eichhorn only came in ninth, Andi Langenhan fell far short of expectations in 16th. Viktor Kneib's 15th place was also below expectations. The rest of the results were roughly in line with the athletes' expectations and capabilities.

In the second run, too, Zöggeler was able to achieve the best time and thus won the European title for the second time since 2004. Defending champion Demtschenko came silver with a very good second run. Möller won bronze on his 26th birthday, which, although now largely flawless, only had the fourth-best running time. Demtschenko and Möller benefited from Pfister's less successful second run, which was only runner-up and slipped to fourth place. Nevertheless, the Austrians achieved a good team result with Martin Abentung in fifth place. The sixth place of the young German up-and-coming driver Felix Loch , who was the second best German, was also a respectable success. His victory at the World Cup a little later was not foreseeable. With the Swiss Stefan Höhener and the old master Wilfried Huber in front of Jan Eichhorn and Manuel Pfister in the other places in the top ten, the supremacy of the countries bordering the Alps was underlined.

Team race

space	country	athlete	Terms	time
1	Latvia	Andris Šics Juris Šics Maija Tīruma Mārtiņš Rubenis	51,452 (2) 55,166 (2) 54,245 (2)	2: 40.863
2	Austria	Andreas Linger Wolfgang Linger Veronika Halder Martin Abentung	51,318 (1) 55,170 (3) 54,383 (4)	2: 40.871 +0.008
3	Italy	Gerhard Plankensteiner Oswald Haselrieder Sandra Gasparini Armin Zöggeler	51,459 (3) 55,459 (4) 53,995 (1)	2: 40.913 +0.050
4th	Germany	Patric Leitner Alexander Resch Natalie Geisenberger David Möller	52,220 (5) 55,021 (1) 54,395 (5)	2: 41.636 +0.773
5	Russia	Mikhail Kuzmitsch Stanislaw Michejew Alexandra Rodionowa Albert Demtschenko	51,940 (4) 55,484 (5) 54,280 (3)	2: 41.704 +0.841
6th	Slovakia	Ján Harniš Branislav Regec Jana Sisajova Jozef Ninis	52,695 (7) 56,985 (7) 54,740 (6)	2: 44.420 +3.557
7th	Romania	Cosmin Chetroiu Ionuț Țăran Raluca Strămăturaru Eugen Radu	52,465 (6) 56,839 (6) 55,673 (8)	2: 44,777 +3,914
8th	Czech Republic	Antonín Brož Lukáš Brož Petra Kaprasová Jakub Hyman	53,107 (8) 57,566 (8) 55,331 (7)	2: 46.004 +5.141

Date: January 13th, 2008
There were eight teams at the start. For the first time, the competition was not held in individual races, the individual results of which were then added to a team result, but as a relay competition. At the finish, the athletes had to trigger a mechanism that showed the following starters that they were allowed to start with a running time. First the two-seaters went into the race, then the women and finally the men's singles. The brackets behind the running times indicate the placement within the respective group.

The Latvian relay surprisingly won with three second-best times in their runs. The silver medal went to Austria, which benefited above all from the performance of its double Linger / Linger. Bronze went to Italy, which achieved this placement mainly due to the very good running time of the gold medal winner in the single-seater, Armin Zöggeler. The time differences between the medal winners were only minimal, between first and third place there was only a difference of five hundredths of a second. The top favorites from Germany came in fourth despite an excellent performance by Natalie Geisenberger, who drove the best time in the women's class, as both the Leitner / Resch and David Möller doubles failed and only achieved the fifth fastest time. Russia finished fifth. The other three teams could not compete with the performance of the top teams.

Web links

• Report in ( Memento from February 11, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) of the Financial Times Deutschland
• Report in the Rhein Zeitung Online
• Report in the online edition of the Kölnische Rundschau
• Results of the women's race (PDF file; 12 kB)
• Results of the men's race (PDF file; 14 kB)
• Results of the doubles (PDF file; 10 kB)
• Results of the team race (PDF file; 120 kB)

This version was included in the selection of informative lists and portals on January 25, 2008 .