The weather forecast for the day was poor and most were expecting wet conditions similar to Thursday. When everyone arrived at 9:00am for a riders meeting to discuss the days plans the road was wet but the sky was clearing. By the time Classic Luge qualifying got underway two hours later, the road had dried and conditions were good. The lay down skateboard classes were happy to get one run of dry qualifying run in after yesterday’s rainy sessions.
Pascal Blondeau and Jonathan Blottier made it a French sweep of the top two positions in Classic Luge. 2007 IGSA World Cup Series Champion Michael Serek who is also known as the “Flyng Dentist” was third. Jochen Baumann from Germany was fourth and Eugen Forschner completed the top five. In all 30 riders took qualifying runs in Classic Luge.
In Women’s Classic Luge Carol Riviere from France didn’t let a broken ankle slow her down as she took the number one qualifying position. Carole fractured her ankle last month at the Daurnetal French National and is still riding with a cast. Karine De Pontives who also hails from France was second and Uta Hang was third.
Reigning IGSA World Cup Series Champion Sebastian Tournissac of France led Street Luge qualifying . Both Tournissac and number two qualifier Leander Lacey from Cape Town, South Africa had elected to skip yesterdays wet qualifying session hoping for dry conditions today. Their gamble paid off as the swept the top two starting positions. Lacey is the 2004 Street Luge World Champion and tomorrows race is shaping up to be a real shownown. German Eugen Forschner was third followed by defending IGSA World Champion Gauthier DeKyndt in fourth. Last year DeKyndt won the World Championship at this event and his fourth place starting position places him in a solid position going into the race. Rounding out the top five was 2006 IGSA World Champion Loic Zaccaro. 27 Street luge riders participated in the qualifying session.
In Women’s Street Luge, it was once again Carol Riviere in first followed by Karine DePontives in second. Noticeably absent this week is multi time World Champion Angelina Nobre from France. Angelina was injured last week during her second qualifying run in Peyragudes. It was first reported that Angelina had broken her collarbone but fortunately those reports were false. In reality she separated her shoulder and hopes to return to competition in late August.
Fortunately the weather stayed dry for most of the day. The second run of Downhill Skateboard qualifying was delayed for about an hour when a shower wet the track, but fortunately the track dried quickly and the days activities were able to continue.
After qualifying concluded, the German Championships were held for each discipline. The top qualifying German competitors were placed into brackets to determine their National Champions. Bassi Haller won the Downhill Skateboarding title. Eugen Forschner won in Street Luge and Jochen Baumann earned the Championship in Classic Luge. Uta Hang was crowned the German Champion in Women’s Downhill Skateboarding.
Tomorrow’s race gets underway at 10:00am with Classic Luge followed by Downhill Skateboarding and finally Street Luge. All of the non-qualifiers will still be able to make practice runs and will actually have a separate shuttle bus designated just for them. The weather reports are predicting warm temperatures and sunshine. The stage is set for a battle of epic proportions.