World Championship doubles preview: by German doubles dominance is threatened in Sochi

Sochi (RWH) Since 2013, either Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt or Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken have won the World Championship title in doubles. First the two Bavarians won gold three times in a row; then in 2017 and 2019, the two Thuringians were the victors. But this winter, everything is different. In the run up to the 49th World Championships of the International Luge Federation (FIL), half a dozen pairs have earned places on the podium in the Viessmann World Cup. “You have to be able to concede too,” commented Sascha Benecken on the stiff competition.

Alongside the two German pairs, the two Latvian duos of Andris Sics/Juris Sics and Kristens Putins/Imants Marcinkevics, Russians Aleksandr Denisev/Vladislav Antonov and Austrians Thomas Steu/Lorenz Koller have also taken wins in the 2019/2020 winter season. The bronze medallists from the 2019 World Championships are set to miss Sochi though, because Thomas Steu suffered a tibia and fibula fracture during training in Sigulda and required an operation.

Last year, the Russian doubles pairing became World Championship favorites on home soil, or rather ice. In the luge festival on the Black Sea, Denisev/Antonov won in both the Olympic discipline and in the sprint. The Under-23 World Champions Vsevolod Kashkin/Konstantin Korshunov came third in the Viessmann World Cup, ahead of their countrymen Vladislav Yuzhakov/Iuri Prokhorov. “The Russians are very strong on their home track,” according to the Germans.

However, the two-time Olympic winners Wendl/Arlt have reached a more consistent level than ever before this winter. The simple explanation is that they have stopped experimenting with their equipment. “We are on good form and we are looking forward to the World Championships,” says Tobias Wendl after their second victory this season and seventh podium position in Oberhof.

The duo known as the Bavaria Express has good memories of the Sanki Sliding Center at any rate. In the 2014 Olympics, the pair won gold in the doubles and in the team relay. They also scooped European Championship gold in Sochi the following year. Defending champions Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken have never won in Sochi and their sled suffered damage in Lillehammer.

The Austrians are happy that Yannick Müller and Armin Frauscher came together to form a duo before the season started so they can compete in the team relay, despite Steu’s injury.