From Deutschnofen, ITA
(Jan. 28, 2018) It had been a perfect season for the Italian duo of Patrick Pigneter & Florian Clara coming into Deutschnofen, and going into the second heat of the doubles event it seemed as though the Italians would cruise yet again.
Pigneter & Clara carried a .64 advantage over Austrians Rupert Brüggler & Tobias Angerer going into the second run. On that second run, the Austrians ran clean, putting themselves in position to take home a silver medal. All Pigneter & Clara needed was an “okay” run.
The Italians seemed on their way to victory, until a mistake late in their run dropped their time to the eighth fastest of the ten-team race. The mistake not only cost them a victory, but a medal as well.
Brüggler & Angerer took gold, edging Russians Pavel Porshnev & Ivan Lazarev by .16 to win. Russians Aleksandr Egorov & Petr Popov rounded out the podium with a bronze, just .04 behind their teammates.
Armin Folie & Simone Gaio finished fourth, with Aleksey Martyanov & Ivan Rodin finishing fifth and Pigneter & Clara rounding out the top six.
The sixth place finish puts a small dent into the World Cup lead held by Pigneter & Clara. The Italians simply need to finish the season finale to win the overall title.
Behind them, however, there’s quite the points battle for the top three. Brüggler & Angerer are tied for second, with Porshnev & Lazarev only 10 points out in fourth.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Brüggler / Angerer | AUT | 8 | 59.09 | 58.91 | 1:58.00 |
| 2 | Porshnev / Lazarev | RUS | 9 | 59.38 | 48.78 | 1:58.16 |
| 3 | Egorov / Popov | RUS | 10 | 59.18 | 59.02 | 1:58.20 |
| 4 | Folie / Gaio | ITA | 6 | 1:00.08 | 59.78 | 1:59.86 |
| 5 | Martyanov / Rodin | RUS | 7 | 1:00.00 | 1:00.19 | 2:00.19 |
| 6 | Pigneter / Clara | ITA | 11 | 58.45 | 1:02.39 | 2:00.84 |
| 7 | Jedrzejko / Budny | POL | 5 | 1:02.21 | 1:01.67 | 2:03.88 |
| 8 | Demchuk / Lenko | UKR | 4 | 1:02.57 | 1:01.58 | 2:04.15 |
| 9 | Guzeloglu / Ercoskun | TUR | 1 | 1:05.09 | 1:03.60 | 2:08.69 |
| 10 | Unwin / Evans | GBR | 2 | 1:27.33 | 1:26.15 | 2:53.48 |