World Champions Eggert/Benecken win Olympic test and overall World Cup

PyeongChang (RWH): Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken of Germany have won the Olympic rehearsals in PyeongChang, Korea, at the same time perfectly securing the overall win in the Viessmann World Cup. Around one year ahead of the XXIII Winter Olympics at the Korean venue (9 – 25 February 2018), the World Champions secured the victory ahead of their German team mates Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt and Robin Geueke/David Gamm. Fourth place went to the Austrian duo Peter Penz/Georg Fischler, who missed out on the bronze medal by nine thousandths of a second at their home World Championships in Innsbruck.

By securing their eighth win of the season at the eleventh of twelve events in the series, Eggert/Benecken took their total points to 1040 and increased their lead over ousted title holders Wendl/Arlt (858) to 182 points ahead of the season finale in Altenberg next weekend (25/26 February 2017). Despite a slightly shaky run, Eggert/Benecken managed to set a new track record of 46.859 seconds. In their second run the pairing increased the time to beat further, setting a time of 46.722 seconds.

Geueke/Gamm (601) now hold third place in the overall standings ahead of the US pairing of Matt Mortensen/Jayson Terdiman (589), who finished seventh in PyeongChang.

Quotes

Sascha Benecken (GER / 2017 World Champion, runner-up in the 2012, 2013 and 2016 World Championships, 2013 and 2016 European Champion):

“When you win gold in the World Championships and then secure the overall win in the World Cup then you are fully justified in calling yourself the best pairing in the world right now.”

Tobias Wendl (GER / 2014 Olympic Champion, three-time World Champion and two-time European Champion):

“Even though the usual suspects ended up taking the top spots here, I think that we need to reconsider the safety aspects of this track. None of us want to experience anything like Vancouver 2010 again.”

Robin Geueke (GER / bronze medallist in the 2017 World Championships):

“We’ve been on this track for the past two weeks now and it is pretty clear to see that none of the pairings would ever really get to grips with it.   We got really lucky and managed two successful runs through curve nine, which is the toughest one on the track.”