Mhe German lugers left the World Cup in Whistler, Canada, with three gold medals. One day after the triumph of soloist Felix Loch, Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken (Ilsenburg/Suhl) secured success in doubles on Saturday (local time) ahead of their teammates and six-time Olympic champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt (Berchtesgaden/Schönau).
In addition, the victorious trio together with individual silver medalist Julia Taubitz from Oberwiesenthal was unbeatable in the final relay competition. Although the quartet was under a lot of pressure from the Latvians who had started directly in front of it, they managed their three runs well and held their own just ahead of the competition. Third was the team from Austria.
Women lose leadership
In the women’s doubles, Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal achieved bronze. The two Germans from Altenberg and Winterberg were still in the lead after the first run, but were unable to defend it in the second run and fell back to third place. The two Italians Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer won ahead of the Austrian duo Selina Egle and Lara Kipp.
“We’re slowly getting going and are finding the feeling for our sled again,” said Eggert after two runs in which he and his partner both had the best times, but didn’t get through the ice channel optimally. “Especially when exiting the last corner, I wasn’t sure if we could still do it. Especially since we only had a lead of 0.002 seconds,” added Benecken, the man behind him.
The third German men’s doubles, Hannes Orlamünder and Paul Gubitz, fell back to fifth place after the third best time in the first run and left the Austrians Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf on the podium.
