Fourth gold: Eggert/Benecken most successful doubles at World Championships

Koenigssee (FIL): Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken have successfully defended their title at the FIL World Championships at Koenigssee. For the German double it is their fourth title in a row. With four gold and three silver medals, the duo is now the most successful double at World Championships. The previous leaders Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch had also won four titles, but only one silver and one bronze medal. "Unbelievable, four World Championship titles in a row," Toni Eggert said with satisfaction. Until the decision was made in their favor, they had a thrilling duel with their German teammates Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt. Third place went to the Latvian brothers Andris and Juris Sics.

At the halfway point, just two thousandths of a second separated the two leading doubles. "Now that it's over, it's good to say that it's nice to go into the second run with a zero lap," Benecken said. "Between the runs I was thinking, 'I'm getting too old for this shit.' It's a brutal tension." Satisfied with the runs on their home track were Wendl/Arlt. "We wanted to give the spectators an exciting race, we drove two awesome runs," said Wendl, the top man, "who is first or second is secondary. Toni and Sascha were faster, we can be super satisfied."

The Sics/Sics duo also experienced an interesting race. In the first run, the Latvians tipped over in the last curve with number 16, slipping through the light barrier on the left side. "We didn't concentrate enough," explained Andris Sics, "in our minds we were already at the finish." The fact that the European champions still finished third gave them confidence. "We saw that the setup fits," Juris Sics noted with satisfaction. And so they attacked again in the second run. Again with the third-fastest run, they secured bronze by 0.660 seconds. "We won bronze despite a fall in the first run," said Andris Sics. Overall World Cup winners Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller (Austria) finished sixth.

In the U23 World Championship, which was held race-in-race, Ivan Nagler gave himself a special present for his 22nd birthday. The Italian won the title together with his doubles partner Fabian Malleier. Second went to the German duo Hannes Orlamünder and Paul Gubitz ahead of Martins Bots/Roberts Plume (Latvia).

To the World Championship results in detail: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/fil-world-championships-7