Sigulda (RWH) 2014 Olympic Champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt from Germany continue to lead the way in the luge doubles, successfully defending their title at the 45th World Championships organised by the International Luge Federation (FIL) in the Latvian town of Sigulda. Silver went to Austria’s Peter Penz and Georg Fischler, and the bronze medal was taken by Christian Oberstolz and Patrick Gruber of Italy. Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken (GER), who currently lead the overall standings in the Viessmann World Cup, had to make do with fourth place. In the first run on the challenging artificial ice track in Latvia, Wendl–Arlt realized the best time and went on to defend their lead with aplomb in the second run. Latvia’s Andris and Juris Šics played a surprisingly small role on their home track: the Olympic silver and bronze medallists (2010 and 2014) came a disappointing sixth behind Ludwig Rieder and Patrick Rastner of Italy. Quotes Tobias Wendl (2014 Olympic Champion and 2013 World Champion) “We moved in the wrong direction with our material at the start of the season, and that really set us back in the World Cups. That’s why we’ve been concentrating on the World Championships. And that strategy clearly worked.” Georg Fischler (2012 World Championship bronze medallist and 2012 European Champion) “I’m so relieved, what a load off my mind. To be honest, I couldn’t help thinking about the Sochi Olympics between the runs, because we were on course for a medal there, too, and then completely messed up the second run and went home empty-handed. That makes this silver all the more precious.” Christian Oberstolz (ITA / 2008 European Champion) “This is just what we were hoping for. It was our plan to win a medal here.” Advice: Due to a technical mistake of Swiss Timing this news was updated.