Luge sensation: Natalie Maag wins silver at the World Sprint Championships

class=”sc-cffd1e67-0 iQNQmc”>

It’s a rink hammer. Immediately at the start of the World Luge Championships in Altenberg (De), Natalia Maag (26) races for the sprint world title.

The Zurich Oberlander is only 72 thousandths of a second behind the now four-time world champion Julia Taubitz (27) from Germany. But the two celebrate together on stage. Maag and Taubitz are very good friends and have even been on holiday together.

Now they are on the World Cup podium together for the first time. This is because Maag achieves the desired improvement. She said before the season started that she wanted more. Over the past two winters she had established herself in the top ten, albeit without being among the very best. Now the sensation in the World Cup sprint – in this format the medals are awarded in just one run.

Best Swiss woman since Martina Kocher

Maag is a lone fighter in the toboggan division of the Swiss ice channel association Swiss Sliding; no one else practices this discipline at this high level. The woman from Zurich is the first Swiss World Cup medalist since Martina Kocher (38), who even became world sprint champion in 2016 and ended her career in 2018.

Maag’s improvement from consistent top ten rider in the World Cup to World Cup medalist is probably also due to changes in preparation, which she completed more in Switzerland than in recent years.

Although she remained part of the German team as a ‘guest’, she worked on her physique at home twice a week with Swiss athletics coach Daniela Mühlebach. The background to the adjustment was the desired elimination of their biggest weakness, that of the starts. (SDA/md)

Source : Blick