Double success for Austria in doubles

Altenberg (FIL/27 Jan 2024) Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf followed up bronze in the sprint with gold in the doubles at the 52nd FIL Luge World Championships in Altenberg. The young Austrians made it exciting once again in the second run, as they were seven thousandths of a second slower than their team-mates Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl. However, their lead from the first run was big enough to win their first World Championship title in 1:22.924 minutes and by 0.046 seconds. "It will still take a while before we realize that" said Gatt, who was in front. "When you can stand on the podium with your team-mates, it makes the success twice as nice," added Schöpf. With the World Championship medal, they have made up for their bad luck at the European Championships on their home track in Innsbruck-Igls. "After the European Championships race, we said that we would go for a medal at the World Championships," revealed Gatt. No sooner said than done."

It was the first World Championship silver medal for both Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl. Kindl already has one gold and three bronze medals in his trophy cabinet, which he won in the singles. And Steu came third once with his former partner Lorenz Koller. More would have been possible. "We could have done it," said an annoyed Untermann Kindl, who is riding with a broken leg after a crash in the singles. But after turn 9, he had to correct with his feet on the track. "It always upsets me a bit when I make mistakes like that, which don't happen in training. But that's competitive sport," explained Steu.

Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt were able to continue their streak. "We've made it onto the podium at every major event since 2013," said a delighted Wendl. However, they had to improve a lot in the second run. The Latvians Eduards Sevics-Mikelsevics and Lukass Krasts put a lot of pressure on them from behind.

Their compatriots Martins Bots/Roberts Plume were hugely annoyed. After the first run, the sprint world champions from the previous day had their hands on the medal in third place, but after a serious driving error at the exit of turn 9, they lost a lot of time and only managed the eleventh-best time. They finished seventh, 0.751 seconds behind.