Jessica Doreen Degenhardt (born April 21, 2002) is a German luger. She is four-time Junior World Champion and won gold medal at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics at doubles' race and silver medal at the individual race. [1][2] She also retains the World Championships gold medal at 2022, 2023 in women's doubles discipline and Women's doubles' sprint discipline in 2023.

Jessica Degenhardt
Degenhardt at the Luge World Championships 2022
Personal information
Born (2002-04-21) 21 April 2002 (age 22)[1]
Dresden, Germany
Height178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight68 kg (150 lb)[1]
Sport
Country Germany
Sport Luge
Event(s)Singles, Doubles
ClubRRC Altenberg[2]
Coached bySteffen Sartor
Medal record
Women's luge
Representing  Germany
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2022 Winterberg Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2023 Oberhof Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2023 Oberhof Doubles' sprint
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2024 Igls Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2024 Igls Team relay
Bronze medal – third place 2023 Sigulda Doubles
World Cup
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Doubles 2 4 3
Doubles Sprint 0 0 1
Team relay 0 0 0
Total 2 4 4
Winter Youth Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2020 St.Moritz Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2020 St.Moritz Singles
Junior World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2020 Oberhof Singles
Gold medal – first place 2020 Oberhof Team
Gold medal – first place 2022 Winterberg Singles
Gold medal – first place 2022 Winterberg Team
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Altenberg Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Innsbruck Singles

Career

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Degenhardt started her luge career at PSV Elbe Dresden in 2010 when she was eight years old. Currently, she is a member of the RRC Altenberg club and German national team.[2]

Youth and Junior career

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Degenhardt kicked off her first season in the youth field (Youth B) in 2015/16. After successful season at Youth B division, she moved up to youth A division in the 2016/17 season. In this season, she finished the German championship in Winterberg as runner-up. She also secured the multiple victories in the Youth A World Cup including the Oberhof, Altenberg and Winterberg races and won the overall ranking of the World Cup.

In the 2017/18 season, she also competed in the Youth A division. At the German A-Youth Championships on her home track in Altenberg, she won the title and moved up to Junior division. At the 2018 Junior World Championships on her home track, she achieved bronze behind Jessica Tiebel and the Russian Tatjana Zwetowa.

In 2018/19 season, Degenhardt started to compete in the Junior World Cup. In Oberhof, she won her first race in the Junior World Cup and also won the relay race with the German team. She finished second in Winterberg and third in Calgary. In the overall standings, she was only beaten by the Russian Zwetowa by 15 points with 402 points. She also competed with Vanessa Schneider in the girls' doubles race, which was held for the first time this season. In their first race together in St. Moritz, they took silver behind their teammates Anka Jänicke and Saskia Schirmer.[3] The end of the season, Degenhardt/Schneider won the two remaining races of the season in Winterberg and Oberhof and ended up second in the overall standings behind Caitlin Nash and Natalie Corless. At the Junior World Championships 2019 in Igls, Degenhardt concluded the competition with third place behind Cheyenne Rosenthal and Verena Hofer.[2]

In the 2019/20 season, she started with two wins in Igls, with Schneider in doubles and in singles. She also secured second place in the second individual race in Igls behind Kailey Allan from Canada. Degenhardt/Schneider won the overall World Cup for juniors with five victories in six races and 500 points. At the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, she was the German flag bearer in the opening ceremony. In Winter Youth Olympics individual race, she defeated to her teammate Merle Fräbel. However, one day later she won the first ever Olympic gold medal in the women's doubles with Schneider.[4] In mid-February, Degenhardt won the gold medal at the 2020 Junior World Luge Championships in Oberhof in the individual[5] ahead of the Russian Diana Loginowa and the Austrian Lisa Schulte, as well as together with Moritz Bollmann and the doubles Max Ewald and Jakob Jannusch in the team relay race.[6] The 2020/21 junior season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so Degenhardt was unable to start a race.[7]

Senior career

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After Jessica Tiebel withdrew from the ongoing competitions of the 2019/20 season, Degenhardt moved up to the World Cup team for the last race of the season at Königssee after her outstanding performances in the youth and junior divisions in the season. In her first ever World Cup race, she completed with eleventh place, missing out on the top ten by just one place and 0.02 seconds compared to Sandra Robatscher. In the overall world cup ranking, she reached 43rd place with 34 points, tied with the Pole Natalia Jamróz.[2]

At the inaugural doubles world championships in 2022 in Winterberg, Degenhardt won the title with her doubles partner Cheyenne Rosenthal.

Luge results

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All results are sourced from the International Luge Federation (FIL) and German Bobsleigh, Luge and Skeleton Federation (BSD).[1][2]

World Championships

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  • 3 medal (3 gold)
Event Age Doubles Doubles Sprint Team relay
  2022 Winterberg 19 Gold
  2023 Oberhof 20 Gold Gold
  2024 Altenberg 21 13th 14th

World Cup

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Singles

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Season Singles Sprint Team relay Points Overall Singles Sprint
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6
2019–20  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
11
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
34 43rd

Doubles

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Season Doubles Sprint Team relay Points Overall Singles Sprint
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6
2022–23  
2
 
3
 
2
 
3
 
3
 
2
 
1
 
1
 
2
 
10
 
3
 
8
 
 
 
 
 
 
898 3rd 2nd 5th

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Jessica Degenhardt". fil-luge.org. International Luge Federation. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Jessica Degenhardt". bsd-portal.de (in German). German Bobsleigh Luge, and Skeleton Federation. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  3. ^ "JWC St.Moritz". Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  4. ^ Artrevolver. "Tag 9 YOG: Medaillen im Rodeln und der NoKo" (in German). Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  5. ^ "Altenbergerin holt WM-Titel in Oberhof". Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  6. ^ "Das macht diese Rodlerin so erfolgreich". Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  7. ^ Alexander Hiller (24 March 2021). "Deutschlands Champion von morgen - ohne Wettkampf". saechsische.de. Sächsische Zeitung. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
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