Season Summary Doubles: Successful Record Chase And Excellent Concentration

FIL Luge Season 2025/2026

Berchtesgaden (FIL/24 Mar 2026) Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt have had an impressive season in the EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup. Once again. In the end, they not only won a gold medal in the team relay and bronze in the men's doubles at the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan Cortina. With seven gold medals to their name, they have now become the most successful Olympic lugers. The two 38-year-old Germans then ended the season as overall World Cup winners. For the seventh time. This allowed them to surpass their compatriots Patric Leitner and Alexander Rösch. “Actually, we could stop now!” said Obermann Wendl, before adding: “But we're not done yet.” They want to compete for another season or two. With a possible eighth victory, they would draw level with the leaders in the all-time doubles rankings, Italians Hansjörg Raffl and Norbert Huber.

Wendl/Arlt remain competitive. Latvian Roberts Plume is amazed: “The Tobis are among the best in this sport; despite their age, they still have the fastest start in the entire field.” Nevertheless, the two Germans are already thinking about the time after them. And they are giving the next generation a chance to get a taste of the World Cup.

This was the case at the final in Altenberg, when they decided not to compete and allowed junior world champions Louis Grünbeck and Maximilian Kührt to make their World Cup debut. “We were also slowly introduced to the challenge of the World Cup almost 20 years ago,” said Arlt, “and we want to make it possible for others to gain this experience too.” The person who has accompanied Wendl/Arlt throughout virtually their entire career is the current German head coach Leitner. He made them a promise in 2010: “When I became their coach, I told the Tobis: ‘I want to make you more successful than I was.’ With their seventh overall World Cup victory, they have finally succeeded.”

Despite Wendl/Arlt's ultimately commanding success, the season was very eventful in the doubles. In addition to the Germans, who won three races and finished in first place a total of 60 times, the World Cup runners-up and Olympic silver medalists Thomas Steu/Wolfgang Kindl (Austria) won the last two races. Juri Gatt/Riccardo Schöpf (Austria), Toni Eggert/Florian Müller (Germany), Marcus Mueller/Ansel Haugsjaa (USA), and Latvians Eduards Sevics-Mikelsevics and Lukass Krasts each won one race.

And the Italians? They concentrated entirely on their home races on the new Pista Olimpico Eugenio Monti. With outstanding success. Few had expected Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner, as well as Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer, to become Olympic champions. “It was simply incredible,” said Italy's sports director Armin Zöggeler, “I never thought something like this would happen. Two gold medals at the Olympics, at home and within an hour – I was overwhelmed.”

As was Italy's President Sergio Mattarella, who congratulated the gold medalists at the track.

In the World Cup, the outstanding lugers were Selina Egle and Lara Kipp. The Austrians were able to repeat their overall victory from the previous season. Third at the Olympic Games, they were the fastest four times in the World Cup. The German duo Jessica Degenhardt/Cheyenne Rosenthal followed with three victories. Unfortunately, crashes and illness prevented them from competing on two weekends, so they only managed third place in the overall standings. Ahead of them were their teammates Dajana Eitberger and Magdalena Matschina. In addition to one victory, the pair impressed with their remarkable consistency, securing six further podium places.

This marked the end of a long career for 35-year-old Eitberger. “Dajana can be extremely happy and can retire from luge with great pride,” said her coach Leitner, “she has had an impressive career – a silver medal in the singles and doubles and Olympic champion in the team relay.” And after their successful performance at the Olympics, Vötter/Oberhofer took advantage of the momentum and added another win to their list of achievements. The fact that they managed to do this at the World Cup race on the natural ice track in St. Moritz was the icing on the cake of an unforgettable season.

Austria once again won the crystal globe in the EBERSPAECHER Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW. Two victories and four second places demonstrate impressive consistency. Germany was far from this. Two victories were offset by two DNFs (did not finish). As a result, the 13-time overall winner only managed third place behind Latvia and just ahead of Poland.