Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt become fourth duo to win two gold medals in doubles

PyeongChang (RWH) The list of doubles lugers with two gold medals to their names consists of Hans Rinn/Norbert Hahn (GDR), Stefan Krauße/Jan Behrendt (GER), the Austrians Andreas Linger/Wolfgang Linger, and now Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt. The Bavarian duo repeated their 2014 success at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. This was the third overall Olympic gold medal for Wendl/Arlt, as they were also in the victorious German relay team at Sochi in 2014.

The hot favourites Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken, who have won 19 of 25 World Cup races in the past two years, claimed bronze behind the Austrian pairing of Peter Penz/Georg Fischler. Sascha Benecken had hoped for more on his 28th birthday.

Similarly to Eggert/Benecken, Penz/Fischler also went home empty-handed four years ago. They had been in third place at the halfway point but ended up finishing last. This time Penz and his co-pilot Fischler, who received treatment for a heart muscle inflammation last year, tamed their nerves and collected a second medal for Austria in the Alpensia Sliding Centre. Four years ago, the Linger brothers won their third Olympic medal with silver in Sochi.

Austria’s Thomas Steu/Lorenz Koller finished fourth, resulting in jubilant scenes in the red-white-and-red camp. The Canadian pairing of Tristan Walker/Justin Snith finished just outside the medals in fourth in Sochi, but could only manage fifth this time around. The host nation can be satisfied with an excellent 9th place for Jinyong Park/Jung Myung Cho.

Quotes

Tobias Wendl (GER / Olympic Champion 2014 and 2018, triple World Champion):

“We drove an amazing race. Penz/Fischler were incredibly fast on the second run. We knew we couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. We had a slight wobble, but thankfully it all ended well for us. We are delighted that we were able to defend our title.”

Peter Penz (AUT / Olympic silver medallist 2018, World Championship silver medallist 2015, World Championship bronze medallist 2012, European Champion 2011):

“It’s a dream come true. It’s completely crazy. We really blew it four years ago. And of course we thought about that a bit today. Things can’t be perfect all the time, but we’re over the moon with such a great result to finish the season. It’s hard to beat.”

Sascha Benecken (GER / Olympic bronze medallist 2018, World Champion 2017, European Champion 2016, two-time overall World Cup winner):

“We are overjoyed. We now have an Olympic medal to round off an incredible season. That was the only thing still missing from our collection. Now it’s another four years until the Winter Olympics in Beijing. We’ll be back.”