Sochi (pps) In the past two seasons they divided the leading positions between themselves. Every time these two German doubles teams competed in the Viessmann Luge World Cup series the winners were either Tobias Wendl-Tobias Arlt (photo, left) or Toni Eggert-Sascha Benecken. But the four athletes would rather bank on communication instead on confrontation. It is only in the artificially refrigerated tracks that their friendship ends.

“Well, we don’t really swap details on the set-up for our sleds. But we are, after a fashion, a ‘poster doubles’ for good communication skills,” says Toni Eggert in describing the good and relaxed relationship to the undoubtedly more successful duo of Wendl-Arlt. Both aged 26, the “two Tobis” have formed a harmonious doubles team for the past 13 years. The current World Champions earned three overall World Cup titles. On the other hand, Eggert-Benecken have claimed the silver medals at the 2012 and 2013 World Championships and became European Champions in the pre-Olympic season.

At the Olympic doubles event on February 12 (start at 18:15 hrs local time/15:15 hrs CET) it’s probably only the Austrian team of brothers Andreas and Wolfgang Linger who can keep up with the two German doubles. The two-time Olympic Champions (2006, 2010) want to claim their third Olympic title in Sochi – a feat that no other doubles team has achieved. “So far we’ve been competing with a Trabant but in Sochi we’ll take the Porsche,” Wolfgang Linger explained the rather mixed season of the three-time World Champions.

Apart from Linger-Linger, Austria’s head coach René Friedl can rely on a second top team with Peter Penz-Georg Fischler, 2012 European Champions and bronze medalists at the 2012 Worlds. “This winter there’s only one race that really counts,” Penz said. Harmony plays an important role in the red-white-red camp, the two doubles teams rather work together than against each other. Penz: “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have any chance..:”

Four years ago, the Latvian team of brothers Andris and Juris Sics took their chance to surprisingly win the Olympic silver medal. It was one of two medals for Latvia at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada, as Martins Dukurs claimed silver in the Olympic skeleton event. After a car accident Sics-Sics had to take a break but they seem to be right on track again as they showed at the 45th European Championships of the International Luge Federation when they claimed a fifth place finish on their home track in Sigulda.

It will be interesting to see the performance of Russia’s doubles teams. The Russian federation especially hired doubles’ coach Wolfgang Schaedler of Liechtenstein who led the U.S. doubles to four medals at the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano (Japan) and 2002 in Salt Lake City (USA). Host Russia has a broad range of good doubles teams even though there is not yet an absolute top team in sight. However, Vladimir Yuzhakov-Vladimir Makhnutin probably have the greatest chance for a good result after collecting two medals in the 2013-2014 World Cup season.