Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf won gold directly ahead of Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl (+0.046 seconds). The two ÖRV duos thus crowned a highly successful day from a red-white-red perspective in Germany.
Selina Egle/Lara Kipp had previously won gold in the women’s doubles, while Nico Gleirscher took silver in the singles.
Historic double victory
After David Gleirscher in the individual sprint on Friday, Egle/Kipp, who had won World Championship silver in Oberhof last year, and Gatt/Schöpf secured further gold medals for the Austrian Luge Association. In between, Nico Gleirscher followed up with his first World Championship medal in the Olympic discipline in the single-seater following sprint gold in 2021. In the men’s doubles, there was an Austrian double victory for the first time in World Cup history. In the medal table, Austria leads the way with a total of seven medals in six competitions. At the end of the title fights on Sunday, the women’s single-seater and the team relay are still on the program.
The 21-year-old Tyroleans Egle/Kipp came out ahead of Anda Upite/Zane Kaluma from Latvia and Chevonne Forgan/Sophia Kirkby (USA). “I can’t quite believe it yet. It’s huge that it’s turning out this way. After yesterday’s race, becoming world champions on a German track is something we really wouldn’t have imagined,” Egle said with joy in the ORF interview. The day before, the duo had to settle for eighth place in the non-Olympic sprint.
Kipp was also overjoyed, although the duo crashed following crossing the finish line and was therefore unable to experience the golden moment following finishing second in the first run straight away. “We didn’t really notice it because we were still going up following we fell. But we heard our head coach screaming and then we knew it was gold,” explained Kipp.
“Vice world champion, awesome”
After that, the Tyrolean Nico Gleirscher only had to admit defeat to the superior winner Max Langenhan from Germany in the single-seater. After two outstanding runs, the favorite had a lead of 0.761 seconds over Gleirscher, while Felix Loch, another German, came third. “Vice world champion, awesome,” said the silver medalist from Austria euphorically at the finish.
Sprint world champion David Gleirscher, second half-time, lost a place in the medal ranks with a late mistake and finished seventh. “At first I wasn’t happy that I came second, but rather annoyed that he blew it. It’s a shame, my world collapsed for a moment too,” said brother Nico Gleirscher. Defending champion and European champion Jonas Müller had to settle for sixth place following a botched first run and a mistake in the final.
With a break at the start
Former world champion Kindl, who is competing in Altenberg with a broken metatarsal bone, experienced a moment of shock. The 35-year-old narrowly avoided a fall and, coming in 22nd, failed to qualify for the final. “It was a bit of luck in misfortune. I need a bit of a break from the single-seater,” said the Tyrolean. “I’ll try to block it out as much as possible.” A little later he won silver in the doubles event.
