From Kühtai, AUT
(Dec. 16, 2018) – In one of the closest FIL World Cup Natural Track races seen in recent memory, the duo of Rupert Brüggler & Tobias Angerer edged out defending World Cup champions Patrick Pigneter & Florian Clara.
The two teams came into the second heat tied, with matching runs of 30.03 to their names. On the second trip down the Italians tripped up, finishing behind Russians Pavel Porshnev & Ivan Lazarev in the heat and leaving the door wide open for the Austrians. Brüggler & Angerer answered the call and beat out the field by .28 on their way to gold in the first race of the season.
Pigneter & Clara finished second on the strength of their first heat’s run, while Porshnev & Lazarev finished third in the 10 sled field.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Brüggler / Angerer | AUT | 7 | 7.92 | 7.79 | 30.03 | 29.91 | 59.94 |
| 2 | Pigneter / Clara | ITA | 10 | 8.00 | 8.11 | 30.03 | 30.19 | 1:00.22 |
| 3 | Porshnev / Lazarev | RUS | 9 | 7.90 | 7.99 | 30.43 | 30.15 | 1:00.58 |
| 4 | Egorov / Popov | RUS | 8 | 8.13 | 8.08 | 30.28 | 30.38 | 1:00.66 |
| 5 | Achenrainer / Brugger | AUT | 5 | 7.94 | 8.23 | 31.18 | 30.60 | 1:01.78 |
| 6 | Lambacher / Lambacher | ITA | 1 | 8.33 | 8.35 | 31.45 | 30.98 | 1:02.43 |
| 7 | Martianov / Rodin | RUS | 6 | 8.36 | 8.05 | 32.11 | 32.19 | 1:04.30 |
| 8 | Jedrzeijko / Stano | POL | 2 | 8.95 | 8.09 | 33.19 | 33.15 | 1:06.34 |
| 9 | Mekina / Mekina | SLO | 3 | 8.81 | 9.81 | 35.29 | 34.27 | 1:09.56 |
| 10 | Lenko / Lenko | UKR | 4 | 8.50 | 8.46 | 73.51 | 32.63 | 1:46.14 |
