Steu/Kindl win World Cup final / Wendl/Arlt with overall World Cup title for the seventh time

9th EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup in Altenberg

Altenberg (FIL/07.03.2026) Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt received their seventh JOSKA crystal globe in the EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup after the men's doubles race in Altenberg. Although the two Germans did not race on the ice track, they still managed to overtake their coach Patric Leitner. Leitner and his partner Alexander Resch were the best six times at the end of the season. The 38-year-old veterans Wendl and Arlt, the most successful lugers with seven Olympic gold medals, had decided not to compete in favor of Louis Grünbeck and Maximilian Kührt. The young German duo had won the title at the Junior World Championships in Altenberg three weeks ago. Instead, Wendl/Arlt acted as expert commentators on German television. “After retiring in 2010, our coach Patric Leitner set us the goal of becoming even more successful. Today, we have actually achieved that in the World Cup,” said Tobias Wendl, and Tobias Arlt added: “Of course, we've all been sledding for ourselves all these years, but now it's also nice to be here together with Patric and to have achieved our goal.”

The race was won by Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl. The two Austrians, who won silver at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, won with a total time of 1:22.754 minutes and secured second place in the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup with a total of 605 World Cup points. The winners Wendl/Arlt scored 636 points. Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf (AUT) came third overall with 599 World Cup points.

Toni Eggert had held the track record of 41.388 seconds for ten years. At that time, the German was still racing with his long-time partner Sascha Benecken. In the first run, Toni Eggert and Florian Müller broke their own track record and improved it to 41.291. Shortly afterwards, however, Thomas Steu and Wolfi Kindl came along and set a sensational new record of 41.149 seconds.

In the second run, the track slowed down slightly in sunny ten-degree weather. Italians Ivan Nagler and Fabian Malleier improved from seventh to fourth place with the fastest run time of 41.461 (total 1:22.929 min.). Toni Eggert and Florian Müller came third with the fourth fastest start and run time (1:22.904). Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf moved up one place with the second fastest run time and took second place behind their teammates Steu/Kindl with a time of 1:22.880. The Austrians secured victory. With a total time of 1:22.754 minutes, they took the lead after two consistently strong runs.

An overview of the overall World Cup standings can be found here: cup-wc-men-s-doubles-altenberg.pdf

Further schedule for the 9th EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup Finals, Altenberg (GER)
Local start time (=CET/MEZ)

Saturday, March 7, 2026

11:15 a.m. Men's singles, 1st run
12:40 p.m. Women's singles, 1st run

2:10 p.m. Women's doubles, 1st run
3:05 p.m. Women's doubles, 2nd run

Sunday, March 8, 2026

10:35 a.m. Men's singles, 2nd run
11:40 a.m. Women's singles, 2nd run

1:20 p.m. Team relay

All information is subject to change!