1. News

World Champions Eggert/Benecken win overall World Cup and European Championships

eggert-Benecken mit POkal

Sigulda (RWH) All good things come in threes: World Champions Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken won the season finale of the Viessmann World Cup in Sigulda, Latvia, successfully defended their overall World Cup title, and in the process also secured gold at the 49th European Championships of the International Luge Federation (FIL). The duo are now the hot favourites for the doubles luge at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang on 14 February 2018.

The Sics brothers Andris and Juris finished second behind Eggert/Benecken. The duo, who won Olympic silver in 2010 and bronze in 2014, appear to have rediscovered their best form just in time for the Winter Games. Third went to the Olympic Champions Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (GER).

Ahead of Sunday’s final BMW Sprint World, Eggert/Benecken have an unassailable lead in the overall standings of the Viessmann World Cup with 1070 points, ahead of Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (877) and the Austrian pairing of Peter Penz/Georg Fischler, who finished fifth in Sigulda and now have 786 points.

 

Quotes

Sascha Benecken (GER) / World Champion 2017, European Champion 2013 and 2016):

“It’s so cool. Not only are we European Champions but we also defended our overall World Cup title. We are also the reigning World and German Champions, so we currently have four titles to our name. As kids we dreamed of an Olympic victory, but we need to keep our feet on the ground.”

Andris Sics (LAT / Olympic silver in 2010 and Olympic bronze in 2014):

“Silver at the European Championships is great, but there’s something more important to us. We’ve been competing in Sigulda for the past 15 years and this is our first podium finish in all that time. That’s the most important thing for us.”

Tobias Arlt (GER, Olympic Champion 2014, World Champion 2013, 2015 and 2016):

“We’re pretty satisfied. We’re getting closer, and we’ve worked to improve our equipment. We made errors at the start of both runs, not that anyone will have noticed but it rankles a bit.”