FIL European Luge Championships 2008
The FIL European Luge Championships 2008 took place January 7-13, 2008 at the Cesana Pariol track in Cesana, Italy. The relay competition took the place of the team event that had been held at every European championship since 1988. This event had all teams start at the same part of the track (located at the women's singles/ men's doubles start house), then run down to the finish and tap on a relay marker to exchange from one slider on a team to the next (men's doubles to women's singles to men's singles) with the fastest time winning.
Time table
- Practice dates for the events took place January 7-11 with event draws taking place on the 11th.
- Opening ceremonies took place at 6 PM CET (17:00 UTC) on January 10.
- To avoid direct sunlight, the events were conducted in the early morning both days.
Competitors
80 competitors from 15 nations competed at these championships. This included ten relay teams which took place on the 13th.
Men's singles
January 13, 2008 at 8 AM CET (07:00 UTC)
| Medal | Athlete | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | File:Flag of Italy.svg Armin Zöggeler (ITA) | 1:44.341 |
| Silver | File:Flag of Russia.svg Albert Demtschenko (RUS) | + 0.341 |
| Bronze | File:Flag of Germany.svg David Möller (GER) | + 0.403 |
| 4th | File:Flag of Austria.svg Daniel Pfister (AUT) | + 0.428 |
| 5th | File:Flag of Austria.svg Martin Abentung (AUT) | + 0.474 |
| 6th | File:Flag of Germany.svg Felix Loch (GER) | + 0.509 |
| 7th | File:Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Stefan Höhener (SUI) | + 0.556 |
| 8th | File:Flag of Italy.svg Wilfried Huber (ITA) | + 0.806 |
| 9th | File:Flag of Germany.svg Jan Eichhorn (GER) | + 0.808 |
| 10th | File:Flag of Austria.svg Manuel Pfister (AUT) | + 0.876 |
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This was Zöggeler's second European championship in this event and fifth straight medal at the championships.
Women's singles
January 12, 2008 at 9 AM CET (08:00 UTC)
| Medal | Athlete | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | File:Flag of Germany.svg Natalie Geisenberger (GER) | 1:35.364 |
| Silver | File:Flag of Germany.svg Silke Kraushaar-Pielach (GER) | +0.160 |
| Bronze | File:Flag of Austria.svg Veronika Halder (AUT) | +0.167 |
| 4th | File:Flag of Germany.svg Tatjana Hüfner (GER) | + 0.176 |
| 5th | File:Flag of Austria.svg Nina Reithmayer (AUT) | + 0.320 |
| 6th | File:Flag of Germany.svg Anke Wischnewski (GER) | + 0.412 |
| 7th | File:Flag of Latvia.svg Maija Tīruma (LAT) | + 0.735 |
| 8th | File:Flag of Latvia.svg Anna Orlova (LAT) | + 0.779 |
| 9th | File:Flag of Ukraine.svg Liliya Ludan (UKR) | + 1.019 |
| 10th | File:Flag of Russia.svg Alexandra Rodionova (RUS) | + 1.037 |
Geisenberger won her first ever championship. The event was delayed one hour to heavy snowfall in the area. Hadler is the first non-German to medal in this event at the Winter Olympic, world, or European level since fellow Austrian Angelika Neuner won a bronze at the 1998 Winter Olympics.
Men's doubles
January 12, 2008 at 3 PM CET (14:00 UTC)
| Medal | Athlete | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy (Christian Oberstolz, Patrick Gruber) | 1:33.779 |
| Silver | File:Flag of Austria.svg Austria (Andreas Linger, Wolfgang Linger) | +0.159 |
| Bronze | File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy (Gerhard Plankensteiner, Oswald Haselrieder) | +0.183 |
| File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany (Patric Leitner, Alexander Resch) | ||
| 5th | File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany (André Florschütz, Torsten Wustlich) | +0.408 |
| 6th | File:Flag of Austria.svg Austria (Peter Penz, Georg Fischler) | +0.591 |
| 7th | File:Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia (Andris Šics, Juris Šics) | +0.638 |
| 8th | File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia (Mihail Kuzmitch, Stanislav Mikheev) | +0.896 |
| 9th | File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany (Marcel Lorenz, Christian Baude) | +1.151 |
| 10th | File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia (Ivan Nevmerzhitski, Vladimir Prokhorov) | +1.174 |
The tie for the bronze was the first in a Winter Olympic, world championship, or European championship event since they started timing luge in the 1/1000ths of a second following the tie between Italy and East Germany in the men's doubles event at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo. Oberstolz and Gruber won their first ever title, ending Leitner and Resch's four-time championships reign in this event.
Mixed team relay
January 13, 2008 at 12 PM CET (11:00 UTC)
| Medal | Athlete | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | File:Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia (Mārtiņš Rubenis, Maija Tīruma, Andris Šics, Juris Šics) | 2:40.863 |
| Silver | File:Flag of Austria.svg Austria (Martin Abentung, Veronika Halder, Andreas Linger, Wolfgang Linger) | + 0.008 |
| Bronze | File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy (Armin Zöggeler, Sandra Gasparini, Gerhard Plankensteiner, Oswald Haselrieder) | + 0.050 |
For the first time since the event debuted at the 1988 championships, Germany did not medal, finishing fourth.
Medal table
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy (ITA) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 2 | File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany (GER) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | File:Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia (LAT) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | File:Flag of Austria.svg Austria (AUT) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia (RUS) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals (5 entries) | 4 | 4 | 5 | 13 | |
References
- Latvia wins mixed team relay.
- Zöggeler win men's singles event
- Oberstolz and Gruber wins men's doubles event
- Geisenberger wins women's singles European championships
- FIL-Luge news on snowfall delaying the women's singles event.
- FIL European Luge Championships 2008 preview - Accessed January 8, 2008.
- FIL European Luge Championships 2008 detailed schedule released - Accessed January 10, 2008.
- FIL European Luge Championships 2008 program[dead link] (in English and German) - Accessed January 7, 2008.
- FIL awards FIL World Luge Championships 2011 to Cesana, Italy (lists 2008 European championships that the venue will also host).
- FIL artificial track schedule for 2007-08, including the European championships at Cesana.
- Men's doubles European champions
- Men's singles European champions
- Mixed teams European champions
- Women's singles European champions
