Winterberg (pps) On the artificially refrigerated track in Winterberg, Tobias Wendl-Tobias Arlt of Germany celebrated their 10th individual Viessmann Luge World Cup victory. They clocked a combined two-run time of 1:27.979 minutes and thus defeated defending champions Christian Oberstolz-Patrick Gruber (ITA / 0.177 seconds behind) to second place. The Austrian doubles Andreas and Wolfgang Linger, toughest opponents of Wendl-Arlt in their fight for the overall World Cup victory, finished on third place being 0.293 seconds behind. It was the third victory this season for Wendl-Arlt.
As far as the overall 2011-2012 World Cup rankings are concerned, there will be a real “neck-and-neck”: After six of nine races Wendl-Arlt (495 points) have now taken over the top ranking, ahead of Linger-Linger. But with 480 points for the Austrian doubles team of brothers, the gap of just 15 points is razor-thin. On third place is the German doubles Toni Eggert-Sascha Benecken with 415 points to their credit. St. Moritz will host the upcoming World Cup event next weekend.
Christian Niccum/Jayson Terdiman (USA), who climbed last year with third place the podium in Winterberg, finished this time on fifth place and realized their season’s best result.
>br> Quotes
Tobias Wendl (GER / 2008 World runner-up and defending Viessmann Luge World Cup Champion)
“We’ve shown steady and good performances this week. It’s a nice ‘snap-shot’ that we’re now leading the overall rankings – but that’s all it is. And the anniversary of our 10th World Cup victory is a nice addition."
Christian Oberstolz (ITA / 2008 European Champion, 2004-2005 and 2008-2009 overall World Cup winner)
“That was a really good experience for us. Well, for the first time in our career we had to qualify for the World Cup via the Nations Cup. At one moment we even toyed with the idea of winning this event, but then Wendl-Arlt were sliding in a class of their own. Anyway, it’s good to know that we haven’t forgotten how to slide.”
Wolfgang Linger (AUT / 2006 and 2010 Olympic Champion; 2003 and 2011 World Champion)
“That’s our first podium finish at the World Cup in Winterberg and this is simply a great success. We might have had a chance to take second place, but first place was out of the question as the two Tobias are on a strong run right now.”
