Wendl/Arlt benefit from falls and take 46th World Cup victory

Winterberg (FIL) Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken as well as Andris and Juris Sics had never met at this point of the Winterberg ice track. In the finish curve, the two Latvians helped their German competitors out of the track at the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup.

The same mishap had happened to both doubles. They approached turn 13 of the Winterberg track too late, so that they both tipped over after a pre-banding in the finish curve and slid towards the finish line. So the two leading duos fell far behind after the first run. Andris and Juris Sics slipped to 18th place, Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken were even disqualified because they did not slide far enough and had to paddle through the finish. 

Unexpectedly, the Olympic Champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt achieved their 46th World Cup victory. The last one was last year, also in Winterberg. But the two Germans were able to put the result in perspective: "Honestly: we would not have finished better than second under normal circumstances, Toni and Sascha did very well."

Wendl/Arlt also made mistakes on the track, which was difficult to slide due to the very soft ice. However, the consequences were not that serious.

Behind the two lugers from Koenigssee, two doubles from Austria made it onto the podium: Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller ahead of Yannick Müller and Armin Frauscher. For Müller/Frauscher this was the second podium after Innsbruck-Igls a year ago. "We were pre-nominated for the Olympic Games before Winterberg, that gave us confidence," said Müller. And colleague Steu said in view of the first race in the Olympic year 2022: "You can start the new year like this. We have finished on the podium in every race we have competed in." The winners of last season's overall World Cup had to sit out three races because Steu had broken his metatarsal.

Fourth place, to which Wendl/Arlt had been subscribed this winter, was taken by Martins Bots and Roberts Plume. The two young Latvians are getting into the swing of things in good time before their home race in a week's time.

All results and further information on the 6th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup can be found under the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-weltcup-13