St. Moritz (pps) It’s still a “neck-and-neck” race at the top of the overall World Cup standings in the doubles. Two-time Olympic Champions Andreas and Wolfgang Linger of Austria won the Viessmann Luge World Cup in St. Moritz, the seventh of nine stop in the World Cup series. Thanks to their second season’s victory they have also reclaimed the top spot of the overall doubles rankings.
Linger-Linger won with a leading margin of 0.040 seconds ahead of Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken, Germany. Tobias Wendel and Tobias Arlt (GER) had to make do with third place (0.0150 seconds behind) on the natural ice track in the Upper Engadin of Switzerland.
This is why the defending overall World Cup Champions Wendel-Arlt, with 565 points to their credit, are now 15 points behind Linger-Linger (580) in the overall rankings. Ahead of the two last races in Sigulda (Latvia) and Paramonovo (Russia), Eggert-Benecken are on third place with 550 points.
Quotes:
Andreas Linger (AUT / 2006 and 2010 Olympic Champion, 2003 and 2011 World Champion): “It was surely decisive that we were able to keep up at the start with the German teams. And in the track we can always depend on our speed.”
Wolfgang Linger
“We now have a leading margin of 15 points. No more, no less. In the next three weeks there’s no World Cup race. The upcoming World Championships will be in the focus. And the next World Cup event will be the one in Sigulda.”
Toni Eggert
(GER / Winner of Viessmann Luge World Cup in Oberhof)
“We’re very happy with our second place. The start in the first run wasn’t really good. With a better start we might have had a chance to win.”
Tobias Wendl
(GER / 2008 World silver medallist and defending champion in the Viessmann Luge World Cup)
“We tinkered a bit with the set-up of our sled on Friday and then again today. But it’s not really working out, we can’t seem to find the right set-up. Well, I’m sure it will be a ‘neck-to-neck’ race right up to the very last World Cup event.”
