Showdown in Hochsauerland: At the Luge World Cup, the decision for the big crystal globe was once again made between the Bavarian duo Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt and the defending champions Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken from Thuringia. In the last race, Wendl/Arlt prevailed over their team rivals and secured the overall victory in the doubles for the fifth time. Julia Taubitz perfected the overall victory in the individual for the third time. The doubles world champions Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal finished second at the season finale.
Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt had double reason to celebrate on Saturday (02/25/2023) at the World Cup final. They drove to victory and also made the overall World Cup perfect. “Crazy Graduation! When we drove through the light barrier and the one was up, so much pressure dropped. It’s an incredibly awesome feeling“, said Wendl after the success: “It was really a great season. After such a long time, to drive so consistently again for a whole season. We can be proud of it. I say: Old but gold.”
Even at the end sovereign victory
After the last three wins in the sprint and World Cup in a row, Wendl/Arlt had extended their lead and were ahead of the World Cup final with 914 points ahead of Eggert/Benecken (870 points) and Bots/Plume (LAT, 711 points).
But it remained exciting until the end: Eggert/Benecken went into the final with a lead of 0.063 seconds ahead of the Austrians Yannick Müller/Armin Frauscher. In third place, Wendl/Arlt were 0.078 seconds down on the best time and were therefore ideally placed to bring the ball home safely. The third German sled with Hannes Orlamünder/Paul Gubitz was eighth.
In the decisive round, the duo from Königssee showed that they deserved to be at the top of the rankings. Wendl/Arlt secured victory with a total time of 1:26.90 minutes ahead of teammates Eggert/Benecken (+0.057 seconds). Even seventh place would have been enough for Bayern to win overall. Third place went to the Austrians Juri Gatt/Riccardo Schöpf (+0.132). Orlamünder/Gubitz completed the strong result in eighth place.
Taubitz defends overall World Cup title
In the women’s category, three-time luge world champion Julia Taubitz was able to defend her title in the overall World Cup. “The fact that I can now compete in the overall World Cup means a lot to me“, said the happy woman from Saxony after the third overall success of her career. Sprint world champion Dajana Eitberger and world champion Anna Berreiter made the German triple victory in the overall ranking perfect as second and third.
Only preparers to finish on the podium
Before the race in the individual sled, Taubitz had led with 892 points ahead of her teammates Dajana Eitberger (802 points) and Anna Berreiter (719). With this 90 point cushion, she only had to finish if Eitberger could win.
But the race wrote a different story: Taubitz did not race to victory in the ice channel, but finished the competition as fifth fastest ahead of Eitberger and thus made the big crystal ball perfect. Team colleague Anna Berreiter, on the other hand, finished on the podium. However, the Austrian Madeleine Egle won ahead of her compatriot Lisa Schulte. For Egle it was the fourth World Cup success of the season.
Degenhardt/Rosenthal second in the season finale
For women, the title decision in the overall World Cup had already been made. At the end there was still an exciting race to watch. The world champions Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal only had the fourth fastest time in the first round, but in the final they showed their class again. The duo Selina Egle and Lara Kipp from Austria were in the lead. Your lead 0.247 seconds on the German sled.
The German duo could not get past the fast Austrians. But in the decision, Degenhardt/Rosenthal (+0.339 seconds) passed the overall World Cup winners Andrea Vötter/Marion Oberhofer (+0.385) from Italy to second place.
In the overall standings, Degenhardt/Rosenthal (898) are third. Egle/Kipp (915) finished second overall behind the winners Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer (1,010 points).