The Loch wins the ninth race of the season to claim the overall Luge World Cup title



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Felix Loch was crowned world champion in the Men's Luge World Cup © Getty Images

German star Felix Loch won the Men’s Luge World Cup title in style with his ninth victory of the season in Innsbruck.

The three-time Olympic gold medalist, who had virtually sealed the crown before the event opened, took an insurmountable lead after climbing the podium in the penultimate singles race of the campaign.

Loch set a track record of 49.819sec on his first descent on his way to a total time of 1min 39.771sec.

The multiple world champion finished just 0.006 faster than Russian Semen Pavlichenko, who was forced to settle for silver in 1: 39.777.

Johannes Ludwig of Germany did enough for third place, finishing the event 0.216 slower than his winning teammate.

The three-time Olympic gold medalist has won nine World Cup races this season © Getty Images
The three-time Olympic gold medalist has won nine World Cup races this season © Getty Images

Loch’s victory, which leads Ludwig by 320 points with just 200 points left for the remainder of the season, saw him clinch his seventh overall title in the Luge World Cup.

“Somehow I am speechless at the moment,” Loch said.

“You can only dream of a season like this.”

In the doubles event, Ludwig Rieder and Patrick Rastner of Italy claimed their first World Cup victory in 1: 19.436.

Latvian brothers Andris and Juris Šics, the European champions, took second place at 0.081, while overall World Cup leaders Thomas Steu and Austria’s Lorenz Koller took third.

Steu and Koller extended their advantage over Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken in the overall standings to 111 points after the Germans could only manage fifth today.

The Innsbruck World Cup is due to end tomorrow.



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