Third victory of the season for Olympic Champions Wendl/Arlt as Eggert/Benecken crash

Sigulda (RWH)  Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany continued to make up ground in the overall classification by clinching their third victory of the season in the Viessmann Luge World Cup in Sigulda, Latvia. However, the Olympic and two-time World Champions benefited from a crash by their teammates Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken. The unlucky duo, who had set the fastest split times on the first run, crashed at the exit of turn fourteen, losing valuable points in the overall Viessmann Luge World Cup standings as they attempt to defend their title.

“It’s win or bust for us”, was Eggert’s view of the mishap, which left the duo adrift in 21st place on 20 World Cup points.

Latvians Oskars Gudramovics/Peteris Kalnins took a career-best second place, surpassing their previous best of fourth place in Calgary. Third place went to the Austrians Peter Penz/Georg Fischler, who have only missed out on a podium finish once this season when they came fourth in the sprint in Park City.

Wendl/Arlt, who were narrowly beaten into second place overall by Eggert/Benecken last season, have now taken the lead in the overall standings on 567 points, with their arch rivals seven points behind in second. Penz/Fischler are currently lying third on 540 points.

The sixth Viessmann Luge World Cup of the season will be staged in Oberhof (GER) next weekend, while the highlight of the season, the 46th International Luge Federation (FIL) World Championships, is scheduled to take place on the artificial track in Königssee from January 29-31, 2016.

Quotes

Tobias Wendl (GER, Olympic Champion 2014, World Champion 2013 and 2015)

 “It was touch and go whether I would be able compete this weekend due to illness earlier in the week, and I was actually on the verge of going home.”

 Tobias Arlt (GER, Olympic Champion 2014, World Champion 2013 and 2015)

 “Of course we had a bit of luck when Eggert/Benecken crashed.”

Peter Penz (AUT, 2015 World Championship runner-up)

“We could have gone even faster. But at minus 17 degrees the conditions were extremely difficult. A lack of consistency has always been our major shortcoming, but we seem to have rectified it now.”

Peteris Kalnins (LAT / tenth at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics)

It feels really great. We’ve been waited for this moment for a long time. The most important today is that we’ve managed to make two stable runs. We’ve been waiting for this moment since 2008. Because previously we managed to make only one good run, but today we did two great runs. We are very glad and satisfied about our result.