Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken make an impressive return to form

Whistler (RWH) Six and a half weeks ago, he was still on the operating table and now, he is back on the winners’ podium: Following an operation on a break to his right fibula in mid-October, Toni Eggert and his partner Sascha Benecken have made an impressive return to form. Germany’s defending title holders celebrated their first win of the season at the Viessmann World Cup race at Whistler Sliding Centre. Second place went to their team mates Robin Geueke/David Gamm, who in turn reached the finish line ahead of the two-time Olympic Champions Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (also of Germany).

However, Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller of Austria also did their bit to help Germany achieve triple success. The pair, who finished fourth at the Olympics, held the lead at the halfway point but eventually fell back to fourth. Nevertheless, their two wins at the season opener on their home track in Innsbruck-Igls meant that they have retained the lead in the overall standings with 260 points. They are followed by Eggert/Benecken (240) and the Russians Yuzhakov/Iurii Prokhorov (191), who finished tenth in Whistler.

During the first heat, the old track record of 38.542 seconds – set by Wendl/Arlt at the International Luge Federation’s 2013 World Championships – was broken first by Geueke/Gamm (GER) with 38.403 seconds. The defending title holders Eggert/Benecken then went on to set a new best time of 38.386 seconds before the final pair to complete their first run, Steu/Koller, chased down the record once again to set a final time of 38.351 seconds. During the second heat, Wendl/Arlt then retook the track record with a time of 38.292 seconds. 

Quotes

Toni Eggert (GER / 2017 World Champion, Olympic bronze medallist, three-time winner of the overall World Cup)

“I broke my fibula six and a half weeks ago. Normally, I would still be hobbling around in plaster at this point. Thanks to a great deal of help, we have now been back on the sled for almost three weeks. It’s pretty incredible. Though I must say that we did benefit from Steu and Koller’s mistake during the second heat.”

Robin Geueke (GER / 2019 German Champion and bronze medallist in the 2017 World Championships)

“We are super happy. We already had some good runs during the preparation session on this track, which helped to boost our confidence. We brushed off Innsbruck pretty quickly. Apart from the bronze medal at the World Championships, we have never done well there.”

Tobias Wendl (GER / Doubles Olympic Champion in 2014 and 2018, Team Relay Olympic Champion in 2014 and 2018, three-time World Champion in the doubles, gold medallist in the Sprint World Championships in 2016 and 2017)

“We made a few mistakes in the first heat but the second one went better. All in all, we are pretty happy. We’re on the right track.”