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[Music] Ladi [Music] [Music] the home of sliding activities since 1905 this track in oberhoff Germany back in 1931 hosted the first ever fibt World Championships at 2man bobay event and since then has really become a home to the sport of Lou as the a special lose World Cup visits oberhoff for the second time this season hi again everyone I’m Tim singer two races already underway and completed here in overhop on this opening day of World Cup action both races won by the austrians and now we turn our attention to the men’s doubles competition where Austria figures to battle with Germany and ltia as well in this competition and to tell us a little bit more about this track is a woman who just earlier this morning made her way down in competition from Team Ireland it’s Elsa Desmond Elsa welcome back to the microphone thank you for having me back Tim as always yes I was on the track here today so I know exactly what the ice conditions are like exactly what the profiles are like it is warm here today the air is wet the ice is fast but it’s not hard so there’s a lot of control that these athletes have the doubles start from the women’s start same as the women did in the previous race these top corners they’re trying to build the speed as they come towards this challenging section which is the 8910 section this is really crucial getting this right if they get this wrong they’re going to have problems coming into this curve 111 12 transition we might see people hitting this right wall here on the entrance to 12 and the other place we might see problems is this exit here of 13 before the long straight people might be hitting that wall on the exit and then they come into this long cisal the Finish um into this uphill breaking section people might hit after the cisal but it’s not important for this race as the finish line is just there as always our thanks to Felix lock Julian vinet for putting together that POV run and all of the associated Graphics as we get ready on a warm day here great overview here in theia saw a rainbow in the distance a little bit ago and it’s mixed conditions but one thing we know Elsa it’s warm today but another thing we also know is that warmth doesn’t necessarily negate the possibility of a track record no we’ve seen track records already this morning in both the women’s doubles and the women’s events um it has been sort of getting warmer through the day so it might be a little bit slower on the ice this afternoon but certainly there is possibility there that we could see some good times track record by a and Benin at the start was set in uh well was set two years ago but then the two toes Bendle and AR set the start record just last month at the other world cup that was held here as far as the race goes we have 19 sleds that’s actually one of the smaller fields of doubles men in the last few weeks as they will move from the qualifying into the seated group the toes lead the way vendel and AR in the World Cup standings only a nine-point lead over lva but significantly just last week the Toby e or a couple of weeks ago won for the 55th time on the World Cup to move into first place all alone and that was last week that is such an enormous achievement I can’t even imagine having that many titles to my name with the offical anthem of the F we’ll see Dominic Fisher pictured on your screen we’ll see him tomorrow in men’s singles also coming up tomorrow after the men’s singles race we have mixed singles and mixed doubles for the second time this season and they say the athletes have to be pretty excited about that absolutely this new mixed event has taken over from the Sprint event and most the athletes are really excited about it lots of athletes that never got the opportunity to take part in the Sprint event again to this mixed event particularly some of the smaller Nations such as myself Japan Argentina Nations that we never saw really getting into the Sprint are getting this opportunity to do this new event to hit that paddle and to take part in a relay which they can’t normally do no question about it based on the performance of Switzer Natalie M earlier today she and Alex could actually be top five contenders tomorrow absolutely so exciting to see some of these nations with only one or two athletes getting to participate in this event and and getting solid results as you just saw really briefly in that last shot Marcus proc in the house three time Olympic medalist is the sport director for this dominating Austrian program we’ve got three Austrian teams in today’s race all of have won World Cup races at some point in their career but it all begins with this team from Romania Stefan hondal and Sebastian Mula and I’m not sure are they slated to go with ruca and Mela tomorrow in in the doubles yeah so the other Romanian team um Marian schupek um has injured himself um he got an injury in training I believe two days ago of his elbow so those that double isn’t competing here this weekend so we will see this Romanian double tomorrow um in the mixed event for the [Music] doubles this team finished in fifth place in the Nations Cup yesterday the qualifying race or actually yeah there was fifth there were two German teams in the top five that were not qualifiers they’ll just be looking to put down a solid run here I know this is a track they’ve had some problems on in the past still quite a young double I think this is only their second scor season quite a late entrance there and it just catches them on the end first time we’ve seen that today we’ve seen some sleds go over but that’s the first time we saw that heart exit of 13 if I recall last month this happened quite a bit I think they might have changed the profile a little bit on the end of that curve 13 today lots of the women were having problems there I think there’s a little bit more ice on that exit which is just pushing people over um towards that right wall and these these guys had a very late into Gap curve 13 they went high they dropped down and then they got height on the end you can just see this here they went too late in this that curve 13 they went really high dropped down and then they climbed again on this exit and they just flipped there was no way of saving it then yeah that’s too bad and when there are only 19 sleds in run number one and 18 will qualify for the second heat they’re going to need another team to turn that sled over for them to get a second heat that’s really tough from them and we never want to hope that someone someone crashes so um a really tough day for them but as we said we’ll get to see them compete again tomorrow in that mixed double event and have a Redemption run team Slovakia who we will not see in mixed doubles because Slovakia is not Fielding any women in singles or doubles at least in the first half of the Season we did see Slovakia have a women’s double last week um winterberg but those go ahead so that that women’s double that we saw last week in winterberg they are still Juniors and so they are they are now training I believe for the citz um world championships on the junior circuit so they haven’t come here and they won’t be coming out to North America and Asia with the Slovakian team by the way for those of you Ardent Lou fans who also follow nbon the natural track Slovakia placed two sleds in the top five last weekend at the world championships in natural L not having the cleanest run here we heard them hit that wall on the entrance to curve 12 and again some problems higher up in the top section but they did keep the sh said shiny side down and get a nice finish 42137 is their run one down time as a point of comparison that time is let’s see it’s not that far off the track record 42.1 37 oh no it’s I i’vegot that it’s about a full 8/10 of a second that doesn’t mean it’s not going to fall absolutely not they just hit here a little bit early into curve 11 you could see them just bouncing off um and again they hit early into curve 12 just some little problems there but overall quite a solid run for them and they will get their second run that’s right any team that gets a finishing time now is guaranteed a run number two as 18 will qualify only one entrance as has been the case really for as many years as I can remember dating back to Walker snith Canada has had one men’s Devils team over the past several years it has been these two Devin wardrob and Cole zansky yesterday they finished in second in the Nations cup for the second weekend in a row they were on the podium they had won that race the weekend before absolutely fantastic for them to be getting those solid results and I’m sure they’ll be very excited for the next race going into World Championships on a home track in Whistler no question about it even though they lost their home track in Calgary this will be now their new home track in Whistler these two both calgarians AB we won’t be seeing them in the um mix double event tomorrow nice exit there but just steering too much to the right before they hit the Cal we won’t be seeing this double tomorrow in the mixed event as they don’t have their women’s double here with them this week right I was wondering about about that pulski and uh and her teammate the young women’s doubles team they they appeared in a couple of World Cups is there a junior event this week um so I I’m not sure they’re actually still young enough to go to Junior I suspect they’re not here because this is a very challenging track for the doubles and they are still a very Junior doubles team this is only their first season working together as a pairing and maybe they felt they weren’t ready for this track yet a nice run here from these men [Music] so perhaps that young women’s doubles team is already back home at the Whistler sliding Center getting some extra reps in advance of the world championship first of two from the United States Mueller and haaw they had a crash in the first run of the first race of this their first season on the World Cup that was in Lamer and they’ve come back to have top 10 finishes in every individual run since then their best result has been a sixth place that was in altenberg yeah it’s great to see some of these younger doubles coming up onto the circuit doubles fields are getting smaller over the years we have seen them reduce in size not getting so many pairings coming through so it’s great to see some of these younger athletes they put down the second fastest start time this is a sled that at least this season has been traditionally quick on the bottom part of the track putting together together a nice run here a little bit high on the end of that curve 11 but manag the exit really well they are safely in the green at the moment and a nice exit and transition there into the Cal Mueller and hsha of the United States to the Finish Line hitting hard that won’t cost them a lot of time although it may bump that knee or that hip a little bit a little bit of pain as it’s USA over Canada and Slovakia very early here in run number one from overhof yeah those bump on the Finish won’t really cost them much time in terms of today’s race but something to watch out for as we go into the mixed event tomorrow just this replay here that really nice exit of curve 13 you can see him stretching out putting his head back really trying to get that aerodynamic position just a big hit there out of the kryal not an issue for today but tomorrow when we have the paddle in the mixed event those are going to be causing problems will that paddle be in the exact same location we saw it last month for the team relay yes I believe it will be although the um mixed event paddle is slightly smaller than the relay paddle so we are aiming for a smaller Target and they start from their respective start areas so at least in doubles that won’t make a difference but in singles you have two different start zones now we have the Polish team himki and kovaleski no matter how they do here we will expect to see them tomorrow in mixed doubles as well with the team of domovic and pivos who earlier today had a very respectable result in women’s doubles yeah quite an experienced team now this polish pairing they have dropped back into the red but there is plenty of tracks still to come green these next several athletes all part of the seated group these are the athletes who have performed the best over the past 3 weeks and it’s interesting as we say well this is actually let’s uh concentrate on this only aund separates the USA and Poland right now but trouble here problems there in that straight away you saw him put his head back and just the started skinning for him and he had to tap his feet down just to keep control so a second place time right now sandwiched in between the two North American sleds so Elsa traditionally on the World Cup the seated group is determined by the best results over the previous three weeks but as we head to the World Champ championships there’s a little bit of a different factor in there involving the countries where the races were held correct there is I I always forget exactly how it works but I know that the seeding does work slightly different at the World Championships to what we’d see at the World Cup as as I understand it the fact that the past three races are all held in Germany they they incorporate the Lan race back into that equation equation so obviously they don’t necessarily give the big advantage to the team that hosted three in a row of course it’s always tricky with so many tracks being in Germany um to make sure that that seeding is done fairly for an important race like the World Championships where so many athletes their funding is dependent on that race and and their selections for next season are dependent on it as well the second of two from the United States the 2022 Olympians Zach D Gregorio and Shan Hollander just sitting outside of the top 10 on the World Cup standings Four Points behind the Italian who are in 10th quick start time yeah the Americans have an amazing start facility so these athletes will be training all summer to get those starts as we saw a really good start time there but they have now dropped back into the red by 8,000 of a second looking relatively clean here just losing time USA against USA with all of the top Italians austrians and Germans still to come skidding and fighting it here into 14 yeah just a little top of that right wall but they did enough in that cisal just to go ahead of their teammates at the finish what do you attribute that to I mean usually if you have that mistake as they had it wasn’t a big mistake but that will bite you about 50 yards down the track they did have a slightly cleaner cisal than their teammates their teammates went sort of middle into the cisal which is the that big 360° corner at the Finish um we want to be going as close to the right wall into that Cal as possible so we did see a bit more looping from their teammates in that cisal and I think that probably lost them some more time some great cheering you saw there at the at the top from teammate Sophia Kirkby as the green light no inspection for this sled at least here in run number one as USA holds it down the top two spots ahead of Poland we move to our first from Italy in fact our first of two in a row Emmanuel Rita and zimon K valner the suian 31 and 30 years old very experienced doubles athletes at this point I believe Simon also won a Youth Olympic medal uh in inbrook so they have a lot of experience on this set and they’ll be looking to to get a good time here that’s right Elsa they both in fact competed in singles at those Youth Olympic Games they’re looking to make their first Olympic teams Olympic team and of course if they do it will be in their home nation on their home track in Cortina how’s the progress on that track we haven’t had an update since before Christmas but I believe everything is on track and obviously the Italians will be keeping their fingers crossed cuz they’re really going to be wanting that home track nice exit there of curve 13 really pressing that head back but they are still in the red not sure there’s enough track for them to make it up in fact they lose another 6 hundreds of a second disgruntled look on the face of army and zler down there in the coaches Zone zler not only a coach of this Italian team and not only a member of the Executive Board of the international Lou Federation he’s also probably the greatest ler in the history of the sport six Olympics six Olympic medals one of the biggest names in this sport regardless of whether you’re an athlete or a spectator I’m sure it is a name that everybody knows as usual a great crowd of L Fanatics here in theia for the second time in a month a World Cup race being held here in German’s oberhoff region the second as promised in a row from Germany Ivan nagler Fabian Malia they do have experience at the Olympic Games now 25 and 27 years old no podiums this year for them but a fourth place finish in inbrook which until that c Cortina track is finished has long been their home track slightly slower off the start than the Americans but they are now into the green looking really nice in this top section yeah Italy just struggling to find any sort of consistency with Podium finishes oh really high there on the end of 11 big skids into curve 12 that will have cost them a lot of time as they drop back into the red did man did well to control it on their ex of 13 but that would have lost them a lot of time that will drop them to fourth fifth place perhaps here six three T of a second off so subar showing for the two Italian teams back to back they’re in fifth and sixth place so a check of the standings just under halfway through this race the USA first and second Poland third Canada in fourth then you have the Italians of course still ahead the latians all the German sleds and all of the [Music] austrians a disappointing run for them just so high on the end of that curve 11 just trying to control it here but a big skid going into curve [Music] [Applause] 12 not the Run they would have been hoping to put down well when we were here a month ago for the World Cup stop number four in overhoff the winners were these two youngest of the German doubles athletes hanis Oram Munda paa gubitz that was their second career World Cup win their first ever in the two-run format and uh they’ve struggled in the last couple of weeks in fact Paulo was pretty blunt when he said we hope we can shake off all of the crap from the last few World Cups as we return home and then get ready for the world championships I believe this is their home track so they do have a huge amount of experience here they’ve got a lot of runs down this track they are 900s ahead at the moment and they’ll just be looking to put that experience down into this run one would expect looking really nice here two10 ahead putting down a very clean run so far here’s the Crux of the course and it’s a perfect exit of 13 well done really good run from these guys here lundu and goo bits that’s a 4174 6 so that’s still over 4/10 of a second off of the track record shaking their heads always a perfectionist yeah they had a couple of small issues they looked like they had a bit of a problem on the start quite a rough transition into that first corner for them um maybe had a couple of other small issues but in general it was a really solid run for them [Music] Germany out in front two more Germans still to come but now we have the team from China starting bib number 10 for juay and Hoy that would seem a little late usually you see China very early out of the Nations cup or very late but that was the luck of the draw and speaking of the draw Elsa were you there they did an interesting thing to draw the athletes yesterday I didn’t go myself but I did I did see what happened they had children pulling the numbers um for the draw for these seeded groups which is great to to involved only one athlete paddling there on the start I have to wonder if the other athlete has has an injury we that’s exactly what it is and we we actually saw that last week in altenberg just choosing not to paddle a shoulder injury by the backman shy H that’s really difficult obviously one person’s power is nowhere comparable to two so they will have a slow start and they will probably then stay in the red for the rest of this run after that they are looking quite clean though they’re having having a solid run in terms of the lines still given that start issue and a usual lack of speed on the Chinese sleds were probably looking at Ninth or 10th place out of the 10 that have come down 9th 42.280206 [Music] that puts them in run two yeah for these for these guys at this point if they know they’re carrying an injury they’re just going to be looking to collect those overall World Cup points and and keep putting down some solid runs and gaining The Experience they know going off the start with only one person paddling that they’re not going to produce the results that they’re capable of because they will have lost so much time on that crucial start with four podiums including two victories this season Martin Bots and Rober pluma of ltia sit in second place just nine points out of the World Cup overall lead but notably their two non- podiums were a sixth place last week in winterberg and a seventh lowest showing of the season right here in oberhoff on December 14th I’m sure they’ll be looking to make a Redemption run here today and improve on that that finish that they had here in December Olympic medalists from beijan in 2022 as part of laia’s Team relay in the green on the start there fastest start we’ve seen so far today a 731 1 all of the these Lavan athletes coming out of seala such strong drivers so driving track like obhof does suit their their style of sliding and like sigaga this track features a cal at the Finish dropping back into the red there behind the German athletes no major problems but just not finding the speed really nice line there head was quite high in the first half of that straight but then pressing it back and getting that aerodynamic position right I noticed that as they put down a second place that Martin brought that head up it’s not that characteristic but that speaks volumes about those final few curves here in overhaul absolutely it’s not an easy track here and I have to wonder if maybe they had some problems in training and that’s why he kept his head a little bit high as opposed to you Elsa you had that head tucked back all the way today in your race I’m sure right I mean as much as I could I know some athletes actually put black tape on their Shields to remind themselves to keep the head down even when they’re taking that little Peak down track and that was something I actually did until a couple of years ago all of my photos from the Olympics you would notice I had black tape on my visor it’s something quite common to to help you be aware of How High your head is this team has made their way into the top five in the World Cup standings Yanik Mueller Alan fler the two austrians coming off of three consecutive weekends on the podium third in siga third in altenberg third in winterberg Austria really doing so well this season everything’s going right for them they’re good on the start they’ve got a good St setup and they’ve generally been driving really really well just dropping into the red that start but there’s a lot of tracks still to go and we know the austrians are good at picking up time down the bottom so they’ll definitely be looking to build momentum from those previous three races we certainly saw that earlier today in both the women’s doubles and women’s singles where the eggless Leeds just turned on the after burners down below looking nice here down the track at the moment they were 800s back now it’s 1200s not trending in their Direction obviously Mund and gits crushed one moments ago just having to work a little bit down that straight to stay off that right wall only small corrections but that will have cost them time compared to the germ lead no doubt about it 1800s out of the lead just 700s behind the second place sled and well out in front of the two USA sleds who are fourth and fifth the austrians along with the Americans and the lvans have have got into this shouting on the start you can see their coaches behind them um really making some noise and encouraging them on the start and this is where they just had to work a little bit hard down that straight to stay off that right wall but then they had to steer back into that wall to get that early entrance that right wall entrance into the cisal the red light suggests a little bit of a technical check among other things for these athletes before they head back up the hill for the start of run number two you know now while Yanik Mueller and Arman froster have three podiums all third in the last three races their two teammates right here Tomas toy and vfy Kindle also have three podiums all third place and those were the first three races so in six races six podiums that’s such an amazing achievement kindall I know did pick up a bit of an injury in altberg but he seems to be back on form now um coming into this week top four in every race Kindle whom Elsa just mentioned perennially in the top hunt in both doubles and singles that’s rare these days in the sport of L absolutely I think he’s the only man doing both at the moment we’ve got a few on the women’s side but as far as I’m aware he’s the only man doing both oh problems there out of the curve 13 having to work really hard down that straight but they kept it off the walls that was impressive it was costly because they could have made a run at the top without those problems but if we check out that transition again between 13 and 14 Elsa talk us through what Tomas had to do just to keep the sled off of the wall yeah let’s see if we’re going to get this replay [Music] here so this is them hitting a bit early into that curve 13 and then just getting pressure towards that right wall rolling back quite hard really having to work hard down that straight just doing lots of Corrections just to keep it in that straight line and not touch those walls luckily the ice is quite soft today so it didn’t look like he was having any skidding it was just lots of correcting an impressive piece of driving from the Olympic bronze medalist of course next up we have the Olympic silver medalist and following the Olympic gold medalist this is Tony aert who took bronze and silver in each of the last two Olympic Games then retired and came back this year with his new Bottom Man Flo Mueller they’re 13 years apart aert the mentor Mueller the Protege and they won the World Cup opener but have been hard pressed to get back on the podium since it just shows how much it impacts an athlete when you do change um pairings on these doubles you get so used to the style of one person sliding that it can be quite tricky when you change to a different bman sure Diana is learning that as well it was a breakout performance for iberer earlier today as she made it onto the podium problems here [Music] transition that will have cost them a lot of time those problems through that 89 10 section and again just hitting the this is unbelievable Elsa and I don’t know what to attribute it to because bar nun no one in today’s race has made more runs in men’s doubles down this track than Tony aert absolutely he just looked a little bit messy really white from the start lots of small problems and then those big problems coming through 8 n 10 really not what we’d usually see from this [Music] [Applause] athletes this is where their big problems really started a really rough entrance there into nine hitting before curve 10 and then a rough transition into 11 and again here problems on that exit of the Cal we’re seeing sorry of the Curve 13 we’re seeing a lot of athletes having problems on that exit of 13 today and it felt a little bit like the profile was slightly different to in training despite all of the problems it’s still a fifth place showing and we probably be no worse than seventh at the end of the run as we get set for the final German sled I say it each week and it Bears repeating why not celebrate the greatest ever they’re the World Cup leaders they are the six time Olympic gold medalists when you add the relay events with men’s doubles and last week with their win in winterberg Toby vendel and Toby alt became the all-time winningest World Cup losers as well with career Victory number 55 so much experience on one set and a start record there for them it’s amazing and and they said it at the beginning of the Season Toby Al said physical conditioning that’s the biggest challenge now they obviously have the technical experience but at age 37 they’re working hard to stay among the best absolutely they have the technique they have the technology it’s just keeping that power Just a Little Bit of a skid it sounded like there but looking really nice down this track nice and clean unbelievable and I’m not sure what this can compare to as they do it with an exclamation point of track record a tenth of a second up on the rest of the field the toes just keep getting better they have been sliding together they’re like a married couple since they were little kids in VES garden and now 30 years later they’re still setting records absolutely phenomenal they’re kind of making a run earlier we talked about Arman zler they’re looking to make it to another Olympics four in a row now does not seem that unlikely certainly not they are just a formidable for for within this sport start record and track record absolutely amazing well one more remaining here among the seated group of athletes or the ones that we expect will contend but the Germans just put down a huge statement and the world champions have all they can just to be in the top three right now Yi got Ricardo schof they will wear that world championship bib for at least this week as we head to the next World Championships in two weeks in Canada but also shows that the ice conditions are holding up here the fact that we were able to get a track record 15 sleds in um with only a few sleds still to go we can expect the track to hold up for the whole of this run sure only one Podium this year for this pair of austrians but that was last last weekend a second place finish in in winterberg more to the point they finished fourth at the last race on this track looking nice but they are two1 behind already yeah that’s looking at Like A fifth or sixth place but we know that austrians can stop the bleeding and reverse the trend down at the bottom just not able to on this run not able to find the speed on this track that they would have liked three more still remain but for all intensive purposes the top of the leaderboard is well set and reminiscent of earlier today in women’s singles the top seven include six from Germany and Austria we know this is a sport dominated by a very select group of Nations and we are seeing that reflected in in both of the doubles disciplines today although we did have some nice variety within the women’s side really nice exit there of curve 13 just not able to find the speed though down the bottom the only nation also in the top seven along with Germany and Austria is ltia those are the experienced Olympian spots in pluma here are the young teenagers Raymond’s balt Galvis oldest Yak aboga this is just their second or third World Cup race together their best result a 15th Place in the high sour land last week winterberg [Applause] Germany we talked about it Ela yonas and I during the women’s singles race that coach that constantly yells at the top is he cheering or does he sound like an animal in distress I’m I’m not sure if it’s to motivate the athletes or to scare them into performing well uh but it does seem to work for these Lan sleds putting down a relatively good run couple of small mistakes and a bit of a rough transition but they are looking quite clean down here o problems on the end of 11 there did well to correct on the entrance to 12 this is definitely the most excitement we’ve seen all day the women’s singles and women’s doubles had a few little incidents but it seems like nothing is safe here in the men’s doubles race absolutely not some problems there for them costing them some time but they have guaranteed them eles a place in the second [Music] round still quite a young double they’re just going to be gaining experience building on their on their experience and working towards towards the next couple of Seasons once again no relay this weekend but tomorrow after men’s singles it will be the mixed singles and mixed doubles this was just that problem there on the end of curve 11 they did well to control it on the entrance to 12 and not go late into that corner two more remaining here in run number one then we’ll have a short break before the final heat of the day and from one set of teenagers to another this is the Ukrainian team of makim panchuk Andre Motz 187 years old respectively I have little to no biographical material on these two and I’m sure you don’t know much more other than the fact that we both know Ukraine brings a lot of athletes every week to the races and that’s a good sign absolutely it’s so fantastic to see them out here and competing and also fantastic to see their teammate um Anton making it into the seed group on the men’s side this week um which is not something we see regularly from the singles athletes from Ukraine that’s right Ninth Place last week he’s had as high as seventh place on the World Cup Ukraine was on the podium and team re earlier this season some problems there through the 7 8 n 10 section and again an early hit there 12 very late there into 13 they did well to hold it on the exit [Music] there still a very young double as we’ve said so they’re just going to be gaining experience on these tracks building for the future and tadas looks reasonably happy with that run absolutely everything is relative in the fact that they make it down safely they probably nailed a couple of Corners that’s all you’re asking for absolutely everyone has their own goals coming into these races we’re not all aiming for to finish in first place some of us are aiming for a second run some of us are aiming for personal best time so he seems happy with that result for this young double and they’ll be happy to get into the second run back-to-back Ukrainian teams their more experienced teammates Hoy and kachmar are coming up next and it it’s certainly Bears repeating from time to time during the season and we hear it in the interviews with the Ukrainian a and Andre monzi put it best after that podium in siga that their thoughts are never too far away from what’s still happening in their country and they appreciate the fact that they can travel the world in safety but uh they have a lot of friends and family that they’re thinking about so heavy hearts for all of these Ukrainian athletes from week in to week out while they try to perform their best on the World Cup circuit absolutely I have a huge amount of respect for all of the these athletes I can’t even imagine what it’s like um to be worrying about your friends and family at home the whole time that you’re racing this is the final team of run number one they will cut the field down to 18 for the second heat so unless they have some sort of major crash here this will be taking it easy putting the themselves in the best position as possible to move up a few places in run number two please don’t jinx it Tim that’s true looking solid so far nice there into curve 12 this is that Crux just a tap there on the right wall but holding it well noticeably slower than the last several sleds but they do hang on 17th Place and while not spectacular this pair has been consistent all season long with all of their results ranging between 15th and 18th Place just struggling to find the speed there there was no huge mistakes um but just not getting the time they wanted this is very much a track where you have to relax you have to absorb those entrances and exits I wonder if they were just a little tense on the sled or maybe there’s a bit of a SED setup issue going on because not the time they’d expect to be getting on this track from that sort of a run just a bit of a tap here on that exit that nice early entrance into of 13 14 that Julia tanisa teammate on the right side who earlier today had a top 20 result in women’s singles so the ukrainians are done and so is run number one of the men’s doubles competition oberhoff Germany as we will check out the standings it’s not as tight as the earlier races today you have some pretty big differentials between some of those but still a a pretty spirited battle for the podium and Elsa as a final word nearly all of these top eight teams made some mistake other than the toes they made some mistake along the way so a lot of room to clean it up absolutely a lot of room for improvement in this second run as you said everyone’s quite spread out but anything can happen inion we’ll see what what comes on the second run okay run number two coming to away at about 2:50 local time when we resume action for the final Heat of the day so until then Elsa and I are going to take a little break and stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of day one of World Cup Lou from oberhoff coming up [Music] [Applause] soon for [Music]