From Altenberg, GER
(December 11, 2021) – Thomas Steu & Lorenz Koller missed a handful of races due to injury, with Steu breaking his leg earlier in the season. Despite needing a crutch to walk, Steu was strong enough in Altenberg to slide, and he and Koller slid to victory in Altenberg.
The Austrian duo trailed Toni Eggert & Sascha Benecken going into the second heat, with the two teams separated by less than a tenth of a second. On the second slide Steu & Koller put down a strong run, easily the quickest of the heat of anyone who’d taken a time thus far.
Eggert & Benecken set the quick start in both heats, and on their second run opened up a small gap on the Austrians. While their second run looked to be just as good as the first, they gave up just enough time to Steu & Koller to cross the line in second, only .003 behind the Austrians.
The gold for the Austrians was their second medal in as many races, as they won silver in the season opener in Yanqing. Eggert & Benecken’s silver was their second, and third medal overall.
Latvia’s Martins Bots & Roberts Plume won their first medal of the season with a bronze, just ahead of Tobais Wendl & Tobias Arlt, who finished in fourth by just .006. Latvians Andris & Juris Sics finished fifth, while Juri Gatt & Riccardo Schöpf rounded out the top six.
The United States’ Chris Mazdzer & Jayson Terdiman were the top North Americans in 13th place, up from 16th in the first heat. Canada’s Devin Wardrope & Cole Zajanski finished 20th, up from 23rd. USA’s Dana Kellogg & Duncan Segger and Canada’s Tristan Walker & Justin Snith both had major issues with the track in Altenberg, and finished 23rd and 24th respectively.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Steu / Koller | AUT | 12 | 5.757 | 5.753 | 41.911 | 41.856 | 1:23.767 |
| 2 | Eggert / Benecken | GER | 19 | 5.729 | 5.736 | 41.883 | 41.887 | 1:23.770 |
| 3 | Bots / Plume | LAT | 10 | 5.751 | 5.778 | 41.924 | 42.056 | 1:23.980 |
| 4 | Wendl / Arlt | GER | 22 | 5.777 | 5.756 | 42.074 | 41.912 | 1:23.986 |
| 5 | Sics / Sics | LAT | 23 | 5.791 | 5.808 | 42.036 | 41.964 | 1:24.000 |
| 6 | Gatt / Schöpf | AUT | 11 | 5.799 | 5.809 | 41.993 | 42.014 | 1:24.007 |
| 7 | Denisev / Antonov | RUS | 24 | 5.816 | 5.812 | 42.095 | 42.134 | 1:24.229 |
| 8 | Bogdanov / Prokhorov | RUS | 20 | 5.780 | 5.781 | 42.158 | 42.094 | 1:24.252 |
| 9 | Chmielewski / Kowalewski | POL | 13 | 5.764 | 5.766 | 42.169 | 42.212 | 1:24.381 |
| 10 | Rieder / Kainzwaldner | ITA | 16 | 5.818 | 5.759 | 42.263 | 42.211 | 1:24.474 |
| 11 | Rieder / Rastner | ITA | 17 | 5.740 | 5.795 | 42.102 | 42.390 | 1:24.492 |
| 12 | Maltcev / Khailiov | RUS | 14 | 5.873 | 5.855 | 42.348 | 42.329 | 1:24.677 |
| 13 | Mazdzer / Terdiman | USA | 8 | 5.994 | 5.822 | 42.601 | 42.147 | 1:24.748 |
| 14 | Geueke / Gamm | GER | 15 | 5.772 | 5.793 | 42.769 | 42.072 | 1:24.841 |
| 15 | Müller / Frauscher | AUT | 21 | 5.792 | 5.840 | 42.264 | 42.648 | 1:24.912 |
| 16 | Park / Cho | KOR | 2 | 5.890 | 5.892 | 42.517 | 42.561 | 1:25.078 |
| 17 | Stakhiv / Lysetskyi | UKR | 3 | 5.944 | 5.949 | 42.769 | 42.627 | 1:25.936 |
| 18 | Vavercak / Zmij | SVK | 6 | 5.865 | 5.881 | 43.084 | 42.379 | 1:25.463 |
| 19 | Gitlan / Serban | ROU | 5 | 5.877 | 5.933 | 42.580 | 43.008 | 1:25.588 |
| 20 | Wardrope / Zajanski | CAN | 7 | 6.022 | 5.874 | 43.199 | 42.490 | 1:25.689 |
| 21 | Hoi / Levkovych | UKR | 4 | 5.963 | 6.007 | 42.824 | 43.143 | 1:25.967 |
| 22 | Mykyievych / Babura | UKR | 1 | 5.921 | 5.956 | 42.934 | 43.394 | 1:26.328 |
| 23 | Kellogg / Segger | USA | 9 | 5.941 | 5.950 | 42.850 | 43.820 | 1:26.670 |
| 24 | Walker / Snith | CAN | 18 | 5.798 | 6.066 | 43.912 | 43.584 | 1:27.496 |
