The doubles world champions Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken celebrated their second success of the season at the start of the luge world cup in Park City, USA, and took the lead in the series.
The duo from Ilsenburg and Suhl won on the Olympic track of the 2002 games ahead of the Austrians Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf. Third place went to Olympic champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt (Berchtesgaden/Königssee).
Eggert/Benecken, who had already triumphed a week earlier in Whistler, Canada, finished the first race in second place, but were then able to pass the Austrians who had been leading until then with a better second. Third German duo Hannes Orlamünder and Paul Gubitz (Zella-Mehlis) were seventh at half-time but then, apparently impressed by a crash from an Italian sled earlier, fell back to ninth after a poor start in second.
Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal (Altenberg/Winterberg) raced to second place as the only German representatives in the women’s triumph of the Italians Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer. The two Germans benefited from major problems of the Austrians Selina Egle and Lara Kipp, who were ahead of them after the first run, who got off track with their sled in the decision, touched the sides of the ice channel several times and fell back to sixth place. This left third place free for the two Canadians Caitlin Nash and Natalie Corless.
