Eggert/Benecken on their own out front
Sigulda (RWH) The World Champions Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken of Germany are continuing their dominance of the doubles discipline. The 2018 Olympic bronze medallists secured their fourth consecutive victory at the Viessmann Luge World Cup in Sigulda, Latvia, their fifth of the post-Olympic winter. This is despite Toni Eggert suffering an open fibula fracture in mid-October, six weeks before the start of the season.
Eggert/Benecken underlined their superiority with the 39. World Cup victory of their career, two weeks ahead of the 48th World Championships of the International Luge Federation (FIL) in Winterberg (24 to 27 January 2019) The Thuringian duo was followed home in second place by Latvians Oskars Gudramovics/Peteris Kalnins, who came fourth at the 2018 European Championships. Third place went to their compatriots Andris Sics/Juris Sics, who won Olympic silver in 2010 and bronze in 2014.
After eight of twelve events, Eggert/Benecken have a clear lead over Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (GER) in the overall standings with 725 points. The Olympic Champions in doubles in 2014 and 2018 finished fourth in Sigulda and now have 576 points. Third place is occupied by the Austrians Thomas Steu/Lorenz Koller with 552 points. They finished tenth in the Sigulda race.
The World Championship title decider in the Olympic discipline of doubles will take place on the artificial ice track in Winterberg on 26 January 2019.
Quotes
Toni Eggert (GER / 2017 World Champion, 2018 Olympic bronze medallist)
“Sigulda is a complicated track where you have to work very hard. It is similar to Lake Placid or Oberhof in that way. We prefer those kind of tracks to others. But we’re actually starting to like all the tracks. World Championship favourites isn’t a bad position to be in. We also like sliding in Winterberg. We have nothing to lose and we’re looking forward to the World Championship.”
Oskars Gudramovics (LAT / European Championship fourth, 2018)
“We sat out the flyaway races because we wanted to test our new sled. It paid off in the end. We’re ready for the World Championships in Winterberg now.”
