From Igls, AUT
Jan. 23, 2021 – While the race in Igls was close, Ludwig Rieder & Patrick Rastner were the class of the field, putting down two clean and consistent runs on their way to a .081 second victory over Latvians Andris & Juris Sics.
Rieder & Rastner’s first heat was the only one of the day under 39.7 seconds to open up a lead over Germany’s Toni Eggert & Sascha Benecken, with Thomas Steu & Lorenz Koller in the hunt in third. On the second run both teams faltered, allowing Sics & Sics to move up from fifth to second with only the Italians to come. Rieder & Rastner were flawless on their second run, and while their second downtime was just slightly bettered by the Latvians, they had enough in the bank to win gold, with Sics & Sics finishing in second and Steu & Koller in third.
Martins Bots & Roberts Plume finished fourth, ahead of Eggert & Benecken in fifth and Emanuel Rieder & Simon Kainzwaldner in sixth.
The win for Rieder & Rastner was their first career World Cup gold medal, and the first for Italy since December 12, 2015 when Christian OBerstolz & Patrick Gruber won gold in the Park City Sprint World Cup race.
In the World Cup title hunt, Eggert & Benecken had a chance to edge closer to Steu & Koller, but couldn’t find time on the Austrian track in their second run and fell from second to fifth That finish leaves Steu & Koller with a 111 point advantage with a Sprint World Cup race in Igls and a World Cup race in St. Moritz to go. Tobias Wendl & Tobias Arlt are third in the points, but were never a factor in the World Cup race in Igls, finishing ninth.
Tristan Walker & Justin Snith finished 14th, just behind the German team of Robin Geueke & David Gamm. The Canadians were consistent on both runs, with both runs separated by just .09.
The American duo of Chris Mazdzer & Jayson Terdiman came into the second heat in 12th place and through the halfway point of their run it looked as though they’d be contending for a top ten finish. An issue out of Curve 9 led to a crash out of Curve 11, and while they received a finishing time, they fell to 24th place.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Rieder / Rastner | ITA | 23 | 2.022 | 2.024 | 39.677 | 39.759 | 1:19.436 |
| 2 | Sics / Sics | LAT | 22 | 2.063 | 2.048 | 39.800 | 39.717 | 1:19.517 |
| 3 | Steu / Koller | AUT | 20 | 2.047 | 2.040 | 39.756 | 39.764 | 1:19.520 |
| 4 | Bots / Plume | LAT | 15 | 2.050 | 2.058 | 39.780 | 39.772 | 1:19.552 |
| 5 | Eggert / Benecken | GER | 21 | 2.057 | 2.063 | 39.750 | 39.811 | 1:19.561 |
| 6 | Rieder / Kainzwaldner | ITA | 13 | 2.044 | 2.044 | 39.853 | 39.818 | 1:19.671 |
| 7 | Nagler / Malleier | ITA | 17 | 2.032 | 2.028 | 39.832 | 39.883 | 1:19.715 |
| 8 | Müller / Frauscher | AUT | 24 | 2.106 | 2.078 | 39.885 | 39.874 | 1:19.759 |
| 9 | Wendl / Arlt | GER | 19 | 2.033 | 2.042 | 39.929 | 39.881 | 1:19.810 |
| 10 | Gudramovics / Kalnins | LAT | 16 | 2.090 | 2.092 | 39.933 | 39.907 | 1:19.840 |
| 11 | Denisev / Antonov | RUS | 9 | 2.054 | 2.069 | 39.956 | 39.965 | 1:19.921 |
| 12 | Kashkin / Korshunov | RUS | 18 | 2.083 | 2.080 | 39.997 | 39.959 | 1:19.956 |
| 13 | Geueke / Gamm | GER | 14 | 2.052 | 2.048 | 40.050 | 39.999 | 1:20.049 |
| 14 | Walker / Snith | CAN | 12 | 2.074 | 2.049 | 40.004 | 40.095 | 1:20.099 |
| 15 | Chmielewski / Kowalewski | POL | 10 | 2.058 | 2.060 | 40.162 | 40.010 | 1:20.172 |
| 16 | Buchnev / Kilseev | RUS | 8 | 2.073 | 2.068 | 40.340 | 40.207 | 1:20.547 |
| 17 | Vavercak / Zmij | SVK | 7 | 2.092 | 2.105 | 40.301 | 40.261 | 1:20.562 |
| 18 | Park / Cho | KOR | 6 | 2.097 | 2.098 | 40.253 | 40.372 | 1:20.625 |
| 19 | Gitlan / Serban | ROU | 5 | 2.124 | 2.117 | 40.275 | 40.396 | 1:20.671 |
| 20 | Handaric / Ailenei | ROU | 4 | 2.179 | 2.148 | 40.391 | 40.455 | 1:20.846 |
| 21 | Stakhiv / Lysetskyi | UKR | 3 | 2.148 | 2.116 | 40.524 | 40.462 | 1:20.986 |
| 22 | Hoi / Levkovych | UKR | 1 | 2.144 | 2.132 | 40.713 | 40.925 | 1:21.638 |
| 23 | Turea / Motzcza | ROU | 2 | 2.116 | 2.110 | 40.809 | 41.743 | 1:22.552 |
| 24 | Mazdzer / Terdiman | USA | 11 | 2.073 | 2.069 | 39.962 | 44.198 | 1:24.160 |