Innsbruck hat-trick for Eggert/Benecken

Innsbruck (RWH) Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken of Germany, defending champions in the Viessmann Luge World Cup doubles, have secured a hat-trick of wins on the Olympic track in Innsbruck. The Thuringian duo won the season-opening luge race for the third consecutive year since 2013. They also won the inaugural International Luge Federation (FIL) Sprint World Cup at the same track last year.

 With their eleventh victory in the Viessmann Luge World Cup, Eggert/Benecken relegated Austrian duo Peter Penz/Georg Fischler into second place on the serpentine ice track at the foot of the Patscherkofel. Their German teammates Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt, the 2014 Olympic Champions and two-time World Champions, ended up third following a mistake at the start.

 Quotes

 Toni Eggert (GER, overall winner of the Viessmann Luge World Cup 2014/15 and World Championship runner-up in 2012 and 2013)

 “We’ve shaken off the early-season nerves and now we know where we stand. We’ll find out if this really is our favourite track when the World Championships are held here in 2017.”

 Peter Penz (AUT, 2015 World Championship runner-up)

 “We made a few mistakes in both runs. To be honest, we could have done more.”

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

 “When you veer off at the start like we did you don’t end up at the front. We drove well last year but only finished fourth. This time we started badly but ended up third.”