From Altenberg, GER
(January 27, 2024) – In stark contrast to the blowout win in the men’s race before it, the men’s double race had a tight battle for the win where Thomas Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf came out on top.
Gatt and Schöpf led teammates Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl after the first heat by just .053, while Latvian sprint world champions Martins Bots and Roberts Plume sat third, .177 out of the lead.
Behind those on the provisional podium Germany’s Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt were likely out of the battle for the leads, but left themselves in fourth after the first heat with an outside shot at the podium.
As they have often this season, Wendl and Arlt put down a better second run, enough to take the lead with the top three to go. And much like other races this season, the German duo picked up a spot with that second run as Bots and Plume had the same trouble out of Curve 9 that many other teams had, and eventually finished seventh.
Steu and Kindl had a small correction in their first run that they cleaned up on their second effort and easily took the lead by nearly three tenths of a second, with only Gatt and Schöpf to go.
Gatt and Schöpf’s second slide wasn’t quite as fast as their first, but it was still enough to hold off their teammates by .046 to win their first world championship.
Steu and Kindl took silver, with Wendl and Arlt bronze.
Despite missing out on the podium, Latvia still had a strong finish with Eduards Sevics-Mikelsevics and Lukass Krasts in fourth place, just ahead of Yannick Müller and Armin and Frauscher in fifth to put three Austrians in the top five.
The United States’ Dana Kellogg and Frank Ike jumped up from 13th in their first heat to ninth to lead the American effort. Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa finished 13th, while Zack DiGregorio and Sean Hollander missed the second heat with a big correction in the first run and finished 21st.
Canada’s Devin Wardrope and Cole Zajanski finished 15th.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Gatt / Schöpf | AUT | 15 | 5.779 | 5.787 | 41.453 | 41.471 | 1:22.924 |
| 2 | Steu / Kindl | AUT | 10 | 5.759 | 5.748 | 41.506 | 41.464 | 1:22.970 |
| 3 | Wendl / Arlt | GER | 12 | 5.739 | 5.725 | 41.721 | 41.558 | 1:23.279 |
| 4 | Sevics-Mikelsevics / Krasts | LAT | 8 | 5.755 | 5.750 | 41.802 | 41.714 | 1:23.516 |
| 5 | Müller / Frauscher | AUT | 4 | 5.799 | 5.803 | 41.776 | 41.803 | 1:23.579 |
| 6 | Nagler / Malleier | ITA | 11 | 5.751 | 5.761 | 41.835 | 41.773 | 1:23.608 |
| 7 | Bots / Plume | LAT | 14 | 5.735 | 5.729 | 41.630 | 42.045 | 1:23.675 |
| 8 | Orlamünder / Gubitz | GER | 13 | 5.767 | 5.756 | 41.938 | 41.741 | 1:23.679 |
| 9 | Kellogg / Ike | USA | 1 | 5.893 | 5.843 | 42.103 | 41.917 | 1:24.020 |
| 10 | Rieder / Gufler | ITA | 5 | 5.781 | 5.799 | 42.088 | 41.988 | 1:24.076 |
| 11 | Chmielewski / Kowalweski | POL | 7 | 5.772 | 5.790 | 42.002 | 42.079 | 1:24.081 |
| 12 | Rieder / Kainzwaldner | ITA | 6 | 5.738 | 5.773 | 41.830 | 42.296 | 1:24.126 |
| 13 | Mueller / Haugsjaa | USA | 2 | 5.777 | 5.796 | 42.097 | 42.047 | 1:24.144 |
| 14 | Vavercak / Zmij | SVK | 26 | 5.819 | 5.794 | 42.186 | 42.036 | 1:24.222 |
| 15 | Wardrope / Zajanzki | CAN | 16 | 5.892 | 5.935 | 42.367 | 42.154 | 1:24.521 |
| 16 | Park / Cho | KOR | 23 | 5.924 | 5.909 | 42.488 | 42.268 | 1:24.756 |
| 17 | Handaric / Motzcz | ROU | 17 | 5.921 | 5.901 | 42.440 | 42.757 | 1:25.197 |
| 18 | Gitlan / Serban | ROU | 18 | 5.894 | 5.872 | 42.513 | 43.828 | 1:26.341 |
| 19 | Jubayi / Hou | CHN | 21 | 5.818 | 42.605 | |||
| 20 | Jäger / Steudte | GER | 9 | 5.823 | 42.649 | |||
| 21 | DiGregorio / Hollander | USA | 3 | 5.789 | 42.680 | |||
| 22 | Bosman / Macko | SVK | 22 | 5.901 | 42.767 | |||
| 23 | Hoi / Kachmar | UKR | 24 | 5.959 | 42.892 | |||
| 24 | Huang / Peng | CHN | 20 | 5.880 | 43.133 | |||
| 25 | Mykyievych / Babura | UKR | 25 | 5.928 | 43.565 | |||
| 26 | Baltgalvis / Jegorovs | LAT | 19 | 5.908 | 43.782 |
