Wendl-Arlt to challenge defending Champions Linger-Linger
Altenberg (pps) Altenberg’s reputation as an „Austrian track“ is nothing that comes out of the blue. Especially in the doubles, the red-white-red teams are a force to be reckoned with. Altenberg already hosted 20 Viessmann Luge World Cup events and seven times Austrian doubles teams took the podium’s top spot: Tobias Schiegl and his cousin Markus won the World Championship title in 1996 as well as another three World Cup events (in 1993-1994, 1998-1999 and 2006-2007). Two-time Olympic and defending World Champions Andreas Linger-Wolfgang Linger (photo) achieved four victories in Altenberg (2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2004-2005 and 2010-2011) – these are more than on any other track.
As the two brothers from Tyrol are currently leading the overall Viessmann Luge World Cup rankings, they are, of course, the top favorites in the doubles on February 10, 2012 (1st run at 11:00 hrs / 2nd run at 12:20 hrs CET). They have a leading margin of 15 points on Germany’s Tobias Wendl-Tobias Arlt, the 2010-2011 overall World Cup winners. “Our focus is first and foremost on the Worlds,” explained Tobias Arlt. This comes as no surprise since last year, Wendl-Arlt crashed in the first run and ultimately went away empty-handed. So this time round, the two “Tobias’” are all set on continuing the successful German doubles’ tradition and grab the title. “This is our goal. There’s no doubt about it,” said Wendl.
But there are two doubles teams waiting in the shadows: Germany’s Toni Eggert-Sascha Benecken, winners in Oberhof, and the Austrian team of Peter Penz-Georg Fischler who won the season-opener in Igls. Germany’s head coach Norbert Loch is keeping an eye on the Austrians: “If they achieve two perfect runs, Penz-Fischler are immensely dangerous.”
For the Italian team of Christian Oberstolz-Patrick Gruber, World runner-up, the season did not really go according to plan as they achieved only two podium finishes (third in Whistler, second in Winterberg). In the 2008-2009 season, however, they won the World Cup in Altenberg. On the other hand, their compatriots Ludwig Rieder-Patrick Rastner might well create a stir as they won the U23 World Championship title last year.
