Taubitz wins gold in the sprint event

Germany's top athlete, Julia Taubitz, made a perfect start at the home world championships in Altenburg and won gold in the sprint. On Friday, the 27-year-old from Annaberg-Buchholz was victorious over Switzerland's Nathalie Maag and Latvia's Elena Eva Vitola. For Taubitz, this was the second sprint gold medal of her career; Last year, she won the silver medal at the World Championships in Oberhof.

Taubitz, who was also delighted with her long-time training partner Mag's second place finish, said she was a “rock” at heart: “Absolutely fantastic, it couldn't be better.”

However, in Altenburg, the German men were disappointed in the two-seater sprint and clearly missed out on the medals. Hannes Urlamander/Paul Gobitz (Schwarza/Zela-Millis) were the best Germans in sixth place, while Latvia's Martins Potts/Roberts Blum surprisingly won the world title. Austrian World Cup leaders Thomas Stew/Wolfgang Kindl were second, ahead of their teammates Juri Gat/Ricardo Schopf.

Olympic champion Tobias Wendel/Tobias Arlt (Berschtesgaden/Königssee) finished seventh, and Moritz Jäger/Valentin Studti (Zella Mellis/Sühl) came in 11th.

“It's really annoying, we're really angry. It wasn't the best round we showed. We knew the conditions were going to be tough. We never thought it would be like this,” Wendel said on ZDF.

Last year at the World Championships in Oberhof, the German Lugers team won gold in all sprint events. Wendl/Arlt came in second place there, and the title was won by Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken, who is no longer active.

In the women's sprint, Merle Friebel (Suhl) placed seventh, while Olympic silver medalist Anna Bereiter from Berchtesgaden placed thirteenth.