From St. Moritz, SUI
(February 18, 2023) – Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt won gold in the penultimate World Cup race of the 2022/2023 season, and with it took a commanding lead in the World Cup points race.
The German duo opened up a .045 lead over teammates Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken after the first run, with both teams well ahead of anyone else in the field.
In the second heat Eggert and Benecken were quick, and slid to a track record 53.515 to take the lead ahead of Latvia’s Martins Bots and Roberts Plume.
That left Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt between Eggert and Benecken and a gold medal in St. Moritz. Wendl and Arlt set the fast start of the race off the top, and their second slide matched Eggert and Benecken to the thousandth of a second to win gold by that first heat’s .045.
The gold for Wendl and Arlt was their fourth in five races. They’ve been on the podium for every race this season, save for the World Cup and Sprint World Cup races in Igls. For Eggert and Benecken, their silver was their third straight and fourth straight medal.
Martins Bots and Roberts Plume finished third, both well behind the German teams ahead of them, but also well ahead of the German team behind them. Their bronze was their third in four races.
Hannes Orlamünder and Paul Gubitz finished fourth, which tied a season-best. Italy’s Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwalnder finished fifth, just ahead of Eduards Sevics-Mikelsevics and Lukass Krasts who rounded out the top six.
Zack Digregorio and Sean Hollander finished seventh for the United States in their first visit to the Swiss track.
With on race to go in the World Cup season, Wendl and Arlt have a 44 point lead over Eggert and Benecken. Bots and Plume are third, and as long as they finish in the season finale should finish third overall.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Wendl / Arlt | GER | 16 | 3.259 | 3.225 | 53.668 | 53.515 | 1:47.183 |
| 2 | Eggert / Benecken | GER | 14 | 3.263 | 3.297 | 53.715 | 53.515 | 1:47.230 |
| 3 | Bots / Plume | LAT | 13 | 3.247 | 3.248 | 53.757 | 53.667 | 1:47.424 |
| 4 | Orlamünder / Gubitz | GER | 6 | 3.333 | 3.335 | 53.891 | 53.772 | 1:47.663 |
| 5 | Rieder / Kainzwaldner | ITA | 15 | 3.321 | 3.293 | 53.879 | 53.794 | 1:47.673 |
| 6 | Sevics-Mikelsevics / Krasts | LAT | 11 | 3.267 | 3.244 | 54.052 | 53.760 | 1:47.812 |
| 7 | Digregorio / Hollander | USA | 7 | 3.306 | 3.282 | 53.966 | 53.893 | 1:47.859 |
| 8 | Müller / Frauscher | AUT | 12 | 3.383 | 3.340 | 54.098 | 54.152 | 1:48.250 |
| 9 | Steu / Koller | AUT | 10 | 3.343 | 3.340 | 54.261 | 54.083 | 1:48.344 |
| 10 | Gatt / Schöpf | AUT | 8 | 3.415 | 3.379 | 54.231 | 54.146 | 1:48.377 |
| 11 | Vavercak / Zmij | SVK | 4 | 3.271 | 3.284 | 54.199 | 54.496 | 1:48.695 |
| 12 | Rieder / Rastner | ITA | 9 | 3.300 | 3.281 | 54.409 | 54.296 | 1:48.705 |
| 13 | Chmielewski / Kowalewski | POL | 5 | 3.305 | 3.293 | 54.429 | 54.512 | 1:48.941 |
| 14 | Handaric / Motzca | ROU | 3 | 3.505 | 3.541 | 54.912 | 55.520 | 1:50.432 |
| 15 | Vejdelek / Pekny | CZE | 2 | 3.573 | 3.595 | 55.994 | 55.324 | 1:51.318 |
| 16 | Huang / Peng | CHN | 1 | 3.456 | 3.462 | 55.560 | 56.392 | 1:52.952 |
