Toboggan World Cup in Oberhof
First World Cup victory for tobogganer Fräbel – Taubitz third
The Austrian Madeleine Egle (l), Merle Fräbel (M) and Julia Taubitz (r) at the flower ceremony. photo
© Martin Schutt/dpa
Local hero Merle Fräbel wins a World Cup for the first time. Another attempt to catch up by Julia Taubitz was rewarded with third place.
Merle Fräbel won a toboggan world cup for the first time. The 20-year-old from Suhl surprisingly secured victory on her home track in Oberhof. In 1:24.956 minutes she was 0.124 seconds faster than Madeleine Egle from Austria. World Cup leader Julia Taubitz came third ahead of Anna Berreiter.
Fräbel was in the lead after the first run and brought home victory despite only having the sixth best time in the second run. She benefited from her knowledge of railways. Last year’s World Cup channel gradually decreased with double-digit plus temperatures, so that in the second run the sledders with the early start numbers were somewhat advantaged. Egle moved up from seventh place after race one. Taubitz, who made a mistake in the first run, even made it onto the podium from 13th place in her race to catch up. A week ago she won in Altenberg from position 22.
I’m super proud of myself. In the second run I had a few mistakes at the top. But no matter, it was enough,” Fräbel cheered, while Taubitz struggled with her first run. “After everything went great in training here, I made a big mistake. It annoys me when that happens in competition. “I’m all the happier that it was enough for a podium place,” said the Oberwiesenthaler.