Germany’s record lugers Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt won the overall World Cup again shortly after their last Olympic Winter Games.
The doubles from Bavaria took third place in the race in St. Moritz on Saturday behind the Olympic silver medalists Thomas Steu/Wolfgang Kindl from Austria and Ivan Nagler/Fabian Malleier from Italy. In the fight for the crystal ball of the year’s best, that was enough early on because their closest rivals Juri Gatt/Riccardo Schöpf (Austria) threw away their victory due to a mistake in the second run and couldn’t get past fourth place.
Toni Eggert and Florian Müller came in fifth. The end of the season will take place next weekend in Altenberg, Saxony.
The women’s race for overall victory has also been decided since Saturday; the Austrians Selina Egle/Lara Kipp were crowned for the second time in a row – although they had to settle for fifth place in St. Moritz. First place in Switzerland went to the Olympic champions Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer from Italy, followed by a young German duo who once again attracted attention: Elisa-Marie Storch/Pauline Patz, who had not yet taken part in the Olympics, came in second to take their second World Cup podium in a row.
For Wendl and Arlt, the day on the natural ice rink in St. Moritz brought their seventh victory in the overall World Cup since the 2010/2011 season; they most recently crowned their long careers at the Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo. With the team relay they won their seventh gold in Italy, leaving luger Natalie Geisenberger behind as the most successful German Olympian. There was also bronze in the doubles, and they carried the German flag at the closing ceremony of the Winter Games.
It was Wendl/Arlt’s last appearance on the Olympic stage, but not the end of their career. They want to complete it on their home track at Königssee, which is still being rebuilt.
