Steu/Koller repeat last year’s success in Altenberg

Altenberg (RWH) Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller have repeated last year’s success in Altenberg. The Austrian pairing claimed their fourth career victory at the fourth round of the Viessmann Luge World Cup on the artificial ice track in the Ore Mountains. The duo in the red-white-red jerseys were followed home in second place by World Champions Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken (GER). Third place went to the Russians Aleksandr Denisev/Vladislav Antonov.

The second Russian pairing of Vsevolod Kashkin/Konstantin finished fifth behind the Italians Emanuel Rieder/Simon Kainzwaldner, who are in their first year as a doubles partnership. In 2012, Simon Kainzwaldner and his then partner Florian Gruber Gold took gold at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games. Rieder/Kainzwaldner clinched sixth in the Viessmann World Cup in Königssee last season. The new doubles pairing also finished seventh at the 2019 European Championships.

Eggert/Benecken retain their lead in the overall Viessmann World Cup standings with 555 points, ahead of Olympic Champions Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (471) who had to settle for seventh in Altenberg, and Steu/Koller (401).

Quotes

Thomas Steu (AUT / World Championship bronze in 2019, World Championship sprint bronze in 2019, World Championship team relay bronze in 2019)

“We are delighted that we have managed to overcome all the problems we faced when preparing for the season. Lorenz has almost fully recovered from his elbow injury. We are targeting a medal at next week’s European Championships. I reckon the German doubles duos will be pretty strong, but so will the Russians and the Latvians.”

Toni Eggert (GER / Olympic bronze medallist in 2018, World Champion in 2017 and 2019)

“We’re pretty satisfied. We have extended our lead in the overall World Cup standings. The snow made conditions tricky. There was lots of hoarfrost on the track during training.”