After days of pure sunshine a cloudy sky, high humidity and a fresh wind had appeared at the Luge tracke in Cesana Pariol on Wednesday. The participants in the Doubles race thus had to face completely different conditions than on the race days of the singles disciplines. For some of them the choice of material therefore caused a lot of problems.
Die Germans Patric Leitner/Alexander Resch, defending Olympic Champions and winners of the dress rehearsal at Cesana in November 2005, did not have perfect runs in training. Similar their team-mates Andre Florschütz/Torsten Wustlich and the cousins Tobias/Markus Schiegl from Austria. After the training runs especially the Italians Gerhard Plankensteiner/Oswald Haselrieder, their team-mates Christian Oberstolz/Patrick Gruber and the Austrian brothers Andreas/Wolfgang Linger were regarded the strongest favourites.
In the first run none of the sleds then faced really a clean run. Linger/Linger succeeded to make up time after a wacky start and took the lead with a time of 47.028 Sekunden, eight hundrets of a second ahead of their team-mates Schiegl/Schiegl. Florschütz/Wustlich had a good start, then faced some small problems in the upper part of the track but they could pick up speed again thereafter and sat in third place with a time of 47.141 and 11 hundrets of a second behind the leaders. Leitner/Resch recorded the fastest start time but dropped behind after a mistake in curve 15/16. Six hundrets of a second behind their team-mates they turned fourth. Plankensteiner/Haselrieder swipped away at the start and took a high entry into curve 17. They took fifth place so far. Oberstolz/Gruber were all disappointed with their first run: After the second best start time they slid away in curve 13 and turned eleventh almost six tenths of a second behind the Austrian leaders.
In the second run the start order was reversed with the top finishers of the first run starting last – considering the weather conditions a disadvantage which the athletes were able to deal with in different ways.
Linger/Linger could increase their lead in the second run continuously and with a total time of 1:34.497 went for the gold – the first for an Austrian Double after 1964. Florschütz/Wustlich tried hard, put in a good run and finally claimed the silver 31 hundrets behind the Austrians. Plankensteiner/Haselrieder took the silver after moving up by two places in the second run.
Pure disappointment for Schiegl/Schiegl and Leitner/Resch. The Austrians already had a bad start and had to give in their hopes for an Olympic medal after a fault in curve 17. They dropped back to fourth place – similar as 1998 in Nagano. The Germans which had called for Anything of Nothing in the second run suffered pretty much the same. The dream to defend the title came to a sudden end also in curve 17. The sixth place was more than disappointing for them.
Oberstolz/Gruber had put in a start record in the second run and registered the fastest running time but they were not able to make it further up than to fifth place.
QUOTES
LINGER, Andreas / LINGER, Wolfgang (AUT)
Andreas: We have been working a lot for this and it is great to celebrate an Olympic win. It will take some more time to realize it is true but it is a great feeling.
Wolfgang: Both runs have been pretty good with just a few little mistakes. In the second run the conditions were very difficult and when we got to the finish we did not know exactly where we ended up, just until we saw the leader board. It was so great.
FLORSCHÜTZ, Andre / WUSTLICH, Torsten (GER)
FLORSCHÜTZ: After the training we were hoping for a medal – bronze or silver. When we have been at the start we did not know how slow the track turned. We were just wondering why the others did not go faster and if they had so many mistakes. The conditions were so difficult so we were glad that we got the second run down that way.
WUSTLICH: We did not poker. In the first run we had some mistakes but it went better in the second run. We did not change anything, just went more intense.
PLANKENSTEINER, Gerhard / HASELRIEDER, Oswald (ITA)
PLANKENSTEINER: We had nothing to lose so we have put in everthing. In the first run we had a problem at the start but the second was great. A dream came true. We have been working for that for so many years so we have to thank our trainers and coaches.
HASELRIEDER: In the training we have always been the fastest. That is why we were hoping for a medal.
OBERSTOLZ, Christian / Gruber, Patrick (ITA)
OBERSTOLZ: If we had better done in the first run we would have had a late start in the second. Shame that wa are only missing two hundrets of a second to bronze. It is over so what shall we do?
GRUBER: In the first run we were too late coming into curve 14 and the same happened in curve 15. Things like this happen.
SCHIEGL, Tobias / SCHIEGL, Marcus (AUT)
Tobias: The second run was a complete mess. We already failed at the start and then had problems with the material. If the frost develops that way you never have a chance.
LEITNER, Patric / RESCH, Alexander ( GER )
LEITNER: In the first run we had bad luck with the high bib. If we ware at the start earlier we might have shortened the gap by some hunderets. It was a good run, we gave everything, were well prepared and had bad luck. With this frost on the track we did not have any chance. We took a lot of risk to go for a medal.
RESCH: We faced extremely hard conditions. I have never seen the track with this amount of frost. During the World Cup we were more than one second faster. However, we can´t blame anybody - it was just caused by the weather conditions. At those temperatures we just had the wrong material.
Photo (c) Nancie Battaglia
