From Winterberg, GER
(January 18, 2025) – The track in Winterberg had never been faster. A day after track records fell in the Nations Cup races, the track record fell again and again in the men’s doubles World Cup race.
But at the end of the race, the team who held the record coming in still had the record, and their 55th World Cup gold medal
Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt took the lead in the first heat by a miniscule .002 over Austrian’s Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf. Yannick Müller and Armin Frauscher were third, only .007 back in a heat where the top nine teams were all under the old track record of 42.940
In the second heat the Austrians flexed their collective muscles once again. Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl slid to the lead from seventh place and moved their way up to the running order until they were eventually picked off by Müller and Frauscher.
Gatt and Schöpf were next. Their second run was .07 slower than their first, but still more than enough to make them the top Austrian team with just Wendl and Arlt to go.
The Bayern Express pulled off the start for their second run .001 off of their first runtime. `Wendl and Arlt pulled away from everyone as their second downtime was even quicker than their first to take gold, ahead of Gatt and Schöpf, and Müller and Frauscher.
The victory was their 55th, which made them the winningest duo in FIL World Cup men’s doubles history. Gatt and Schöpf’s silver was their first medal of the season, while Müller and Frauscher’s bronze was their third straight.
Expectedly, Tobias Wendl was thrilled with his team’s victory.
“”This feels like our first victory,” Wendl told FIL media after the race. “It’s so amazing, our first run wasn’t that good but we handled the pressure well!”
Steu and Kindl slid to fourth place, up from seventh in the first heat. Toni Eggert and Florian Müller were fifth, with Latvia’s Martins Bots and Roberts Plume sixth.
The American duo of Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa were ninth, while Zack Digregorio and Sean Hollander had trouble in the first heat and finished 17th.
Canadians Devin Wardrope and Cole Zajanski were 11th.
With three races left in the World Cup season, Wendl and Arlt are the season point leaders, nine points ahead of Bots and Plume. Eggert and Müller are third, with Steu and Kindl fourth and Müller and Frauscher fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Wendl / Arlt | GER | 11 | 3.007 | 3.008 | 42.606 | 42.546 | 1:25.152 |
| 2 | Gatt / Schöpf | AUT | 6 | 3.026 | 3.041 | 42.608 | 42.678 | 1:25.286 |
| 3 | Müller / Frauscher | AUT | 14 | 3.050 | 3.036 | 42.613 | 42.741 | 1:25.354 |
| 4 | Steu / Kindl | AUT | 10 | 3.070 | 3.093 | 42.742 | 42.621 | 1:25.363 |
| 5 | Eggert / Müller | GER | 13 | 2.993 | 2.994 | 42.732 | 42.639 | 1:25.371 |
| 6 | Bots / Plume | LAT | 12 | 3.019 | 3.030 | 42.727 | 42.703 | 1:25.430 |
| 7 | Nagler / Malleeir | ITA | 8 | 3.004 | 3.023 | 42.759 | 42.778 | 1:25.537 |
| 8 | Orlamünder / Gubitz | GER | 15 | 3.050 | 3.073 | 42.738 | 42.811 | 1:25.549 |
| 9 | Mueller / Haugsjaa | USA | 7 | 3.028 | 3.042 | 42.742 | 42.840 | 1:25.582 |
| 10 | Rieder / Kainzwaldner | ITA | 5 | 3.077 | 3.060 | 43.130 | 43.039 | 1:26.169 |
| 11 | Wrdrope / Zajanski | CAN | 3 | 3.064 | 3.070 | 43.063 | 43.130 | 1:26.193 |
| 12 | Chmielewski / Kowalewski | POL | 22 | 3.063 | 3.049 | 43.210 | 43.058 | 1:26.268 |
| 13 | Jubayi / Hou | CHN | 1 | 3.128 | 3.140 | 43.231 | 43.256 | 1:26.487 |
| 14 | Bosman / Mick | SVK | 16 | 3.121 | 3.114 | 43.625 | 43.474 | 1:27.099 |
| 15 | Baltgalvis / Jakseboga | LAT | 2 | 3.127 | 3.089 | 43.772 | 43.685 | 1:27.457 |
| 16 | Hoi / Kachmar | UKR | 18 | 3.137 | 3.149 | 43.749 | 43.863 | 1:27.612 |
| 17 | Digregorio / Hollander | USA | 4 | 3.019 | 43.840 | |||
| 18 | Gitlan / Serban | ROU | 17 | 3.094 | 43.846 | |||
| 19 | Handaric / Motzca | ROU | 19 | 3.014 | 43.933 | |||
| 20 | Panchuk / Muts | UKR | 20 | 3.117 | 44.514 | |||
| DNF | Vavercak / Zmij | SVK | 9 | 3.038 | 3.046 | 43.117 | DNF | |
| DNF | Sevics-Mikelsevics / Babris | LAT | 21 | 3.095 | 3.096 | 43.288 | DNF |