German ace Ludwig wins back-to-back Luge World Cup events

Johannes Ludwig made it a memorable weekend for Germany in Sochi by winning his second gold in two races in the men's International Luge Federation World Cup event.

The 35-year-old won the Beijing 2022 test event at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre in the season opener earlier this month, and he recovered from finishing 20th in his first-run by being the only slider to dip below the 52-second mark on his second.

His total time of 1:44.626 lifted him to the top spot, ahead of his fellow German Felix Loch in second and Russia's Roman Repilov in third, who finished with total times of 1:44.784 and 1:44.834 respectively.

This one-two follows a German podium clean sweep in Beijing, which saw Max Langenhan win a medal alongside Loch and Ludwig.

In the women's event, Germany's Anna Berreiter made it six different medallists in the first two International Luge Federation World Cup races of the season with victory in Sochi on Saturday.

The first of two back-to-back events in Sochi saw Berreiter claim her third World Cup win of her career with a winning time of 1:40.649 after finishing fourth in Beijing earlier this month.

Latvia's Kendija Aparjode finished a close second place with a time of 1:40.756, while Russia's Viktoriia Demchenko gave the home crowd something to cheer about with a third-place finish in 1:40.917.

The victory sees Berreiter take control in the overall women's World Cup standings, with the 22-year-old sitting in first with 160 points.

Last week, Madeleine Egle of Austria and her compatriot Lisa Schulte picked up gold and bronze while Julia Taubitz of Germany won silver at the World Cup event in Beijing.

It's the first time since the 2015-16 season that the first six medals of the women's luge season have gone to six different sliders.