German Olympic Champions Wendl/Arlt now sole record holders in the Viessmann World Cup with 35 victories

Sochi (RWH)  Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany are now the sole record holders in the Viessmann Luge World Cup. The Olympic Champions, who claimed their third World Championship title last weekend, have just taken their 35th race win at the seventh round of the Viessmann Luge World Cup 2015/2016 in Sochi, Russia. This moves them ahead of the previous record holders Patric Leitner/Alexander Resch (GER) who retired in 2010 with a total of 34 wins in the Viessmann Luge World Cup doubles.

By taking their sixth win of the season on the 2014 Olympic track, the Bavarian pairing relegated Russia’s Andrey Bogdanov/Andrey Medvedev and the Italian duo of Christian Oberstolz/Patrick Gruber into second and third respectively. The Americans Matthew Mortensen/Jayson Terdiman had held the lead at the halfway point but a mistake on their second run dropped them back to ninth.

“That was the craziest race I’ve ever seen” was the verdict of USA luger Chris Mazdzer who was co-commentating on the live stream of near-crashes, accidents and breakdowns, all of which ended without injury. The difficult track conditions caught out plenty of sliders, including defending champions Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken of Germany, the Austrians Peter Penz/Georg Fischler, and Latvia’s Andris Sics/Juris Sics, who won silver in 2010 and bronze at the 2014 Olympics. Even local heroes Alexandr Denisyev/Vladislav Antonov did not make it to the finish, despite being fourth at half-time.

Wendl/Arlt, who remain undefeated at the Sanki Sliding Center, have extended their lead in the overall Viessmann Luge World Cup standings to 867 points, giving them a comfortable 105-point advantage over defending champions Eggert/Benecken (762). Penz/Fischler are currently lying third on 715 points.

The next round of the Viessmann Luge World Cup takes place in Altenberg (GER) next weekend. The 8th Viessmann Luge World Cup of the season will also double as the 47th International Luge Federation (FIL) European Championships.

Quotes

Tobias Wendl (GER, Olympic Champion 2014, World Champion 2013, 2015 and 2016)

“The new ice created extremely difficult conditions. That was the most difficult race we’ve ever competed in.”

Christian Oberstolz / ITA, World Championship bronze medallist 2016)