45th success: Wendl/Artl take the lead again alone

Winterberg (FIL): Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt (GER) have claimed their 45th World Cup victory at the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup in Winterberg. Thus, the four-time Olympic Champions are again alone at the top of the doubles statistics. "We don't place that much value in statistics. But the 45th World Cup victory feels like the first. It's tremendous fun when the whole thing picks up again, the winning - then you feel like you're 18 right away," said the 33-year-old Wendl.

Most recently, their German teammates Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken had caught up with their success in Oberhof. The world champions were 0.040 seconds behind after two runs. "It was an exciting and great race," said Eggert. Third place went to brothers Andris and Juris Sics of Latvia, 0.242 seconds behind. "In the first run we were a bit unsure because of the conditions," Andris Sics revealed. Then they rebuilt their sled a little bit: "Then in the second run we had the right setup, the ride was super good."

After a mistake right after the start, World Cup leaders Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller from Austria only managed the 16th best time in the first run. With the fastest run (43.381 sec.) in the second heat the Austrians could still improve to seventh position.

The Sprint World Champions Aleksandr Denisev and Vladislav Antonov from Russia surprised everyone. After run one, the winners of the Nations Cup were in third place behind the German doubles duo. Their result after a lapse in run two: only the twelfth best time. This meant fifth place in the addition of both runs.
Despite their slip-up Steu/Koller were able to defend their lead in the overall World Cup. After five races they have 431 points, Eggert/Bennecken 366. That's why Sascha Benecken was happy: "In the overall World Cup we could make up a few points."

in challenging weather with fog over the Sauerland, Toni Eggert found words of praise for the Winterberg track crew. "For the difficult weather conditions, the track stands really well today. Of course the track has slackened, but it can't be helped with the humidity," said the five-time overall World Cup winner. In February he had left before the World Cup race at that time because the track was too unsafe for him.

The results of the 4th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Winterberg (GER) are available under the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-weltcup-3

The overall World Cup standings can be found here: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/gesamtstaende?event_season_id=28