Luge 2018/Mixed doubles

Mixed doubles
General information
Sport	Luge 2018
Date	14 February 2018
Competitors	20 pairs
Venue	Alpensia Sliding Centre
Previous medalists
Gold	Tobias Arlt Tobias Wendl
Silver	Andreas Linger Wolfgang Linger
Bronze	Andris Sics Juris Sics
Conditions
Temperature	1°C / 33.8°F
Length	1201 metres
Medalists
	Tobias Arlt Tobias Wendl
	Georg Fischler Peter Penz
	Sascha Benecken Toni Eggert

The mixed doubles of Luge 2018 during the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 14 February 2018 in the Alpensia Sliding Centre. With 20 pairs competing, the event was won by Tobias Arlt and Tobias Wendl from Germany, with Georg Fischler and Peter Penz from Austria taking the silver medal and Sascha Benecken and Toni Eggert from Germany taking bronze.

Format

The competition exists out of two runs of 1201 metres. The team with the lowest aggregate time of the two runs is the winner of the event.

Preview

Twenty pairs qualified for the event, with the German teams as big favorites. While the team of Benecken/Eggert had won almost every race in the previous four years, the other team of Arlt/Wendl were the reigning Olympic champions. The Austrian team of Fischler/Penz were other medal contenders, being the number three in the world. Other contenders for a medal included the American team of Mortensen/Terdiman, the second Austrian team of Koller/Steu, and the Latvian duo Sics/Sics, who won bronze and silver in the previous two editions.

The youngest team of Fabian Malleier and Ivan Nagler were the only competitors below the age of 21 years, while Juris Sics leads the nine athletes aged 30 years and older. Only 13 out of 40 competitors make their Olympic debut, with 14 athletes of the remaining 27 finishing in the top 10 in 2014. Only two pairs also competed at Torino 2006, with the brothers Sics and Broz/Broz being the only two teams to be made out of brothers as well.

Current Records

Record	Date	Nat.	Name	Time
TR	18 February 2017		Sascha Benecken	46.722
			Toni Eggert

Summary

Run 1

Arlt/Wendl immediately broke the start record and the track record, proving their expectations as favorites. Fischler/Penz stayed within a small margin, keeping a chance on a gold medal, while Benecken/Eggert stayed close behind. Behind the top 3, Canadian duo Snith/Walker surprised with the fourth fastest time, even though they had little chance to win a gold medal, with only one run to go. Outsiders Koller/Steu kept the margin between fourth and fifth place small.

Run 1 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athletes		Time
1		Tobias Wendl	Tobias Arlt	45.820
2		Peter Penz	Georg Fischler	45.891
3		Toni Eggert	Sascha Benecken	45.931
4		Tristan Walker	Justin Snith	46.134
5		Thomas Steu	Lorenz Koller	46.172
6		Matthew Mortensen	Jayson Terdiman	46.244
7		Justin Krewson	Andrew Sherk	46.310
8		Ivan Nagler	Fabian Malleier	46.320
9		Andris Sics	Juris Sics	46.336
10		Park Jin-yong	Cho Jung Myung	46.396
11		Aleksandr Denisev	Vladislav Antonov	46.437
12		Lukas Broz	Antonin Broz	46.570
13		Wojciech Chmielewski	Jakub Kowalewski	46.609
14		Ludwig Rieder	Patrick Rastner	46.709
15		Marek Solcansky	Karol Stuchlak	46.780
16		Matej Kvicala	Jaromir Kudera	46.818
17		Oskars Gudramovics	Peteris Kalnins	46.890
18		Cosmin Atodiresei	Stefan Musei	47.101
19		Andrei Bogdanov	Andrei Medvedev	47.106
20		Oleksandr Obolonchyk	Roman Zakharkiv	48.316

Run 2

Arlt/Wendl once again had the fastest time of the last run, retaining their gold medal of four years before. Fischler/Penz and Benecken/Eggert got the second and third time, respectively, and defended their positions on the standings. Koller/Steu matched their rank of the first run, and with Snith/Walker losing over 0.1 seconds, the former was able to catch up to the latter, finishing fourth. The fourth-fastest time of the last run was run by Sics/Sics, who was able to climb from ninth place to sixth place.

Run 2 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athletes		Time
1		Tobias Wendl	Tobias Arlt	45.877
2		Peter Penz	Georg Fischler	45.894
3		Toni Eggert	Sascha Benecken	46.056
4		Andris Sics	Juris Sics	46.106
5		Thomas Steu	Lorenz Koller	46.112
6		Tristan Walker	Justin Snith	46.235
7		Ivan Nagler	Fabian Malleier	46.243
8		Park Jin-yong	Cho Jung Myung	46.276
9		Oskars Gudramovics	Peteris Kalnins	46.317
10		Justin Krewson	Andrew Sherk	46.342
11		Aleksandr Denisev	Vladislav Antonov	46.344
12		Andrei Bogdanov	Andrei Medvedev	46.402
13		Matthew Mortensen	Jayson Terdiman	46.443
14		Wojciech Chmielewski	Jakub Kowalewski	46.478
15		Ludwig Rieder	Patrick Rastner	46.567
16		Lukas Broz	Antonin Broz	46.582
17		Marek Solcansky	Karol Stuchlak	46.811
18		Matej Kvicala	Jaromir Kudera	46.910
19		Cosmin Atodiresei	Stefan Musei	47.171
20		Oleksandr Obolonchyk	Roman Zakharkiv	47.401

Results

Tobias Arlt and Tobias Wendl won their third gold medal in luge, after winning the doubles and team relay at their Olympic debut. Georg Fischler and Peter Penz took revenge from their failed competition in 2014 by winning their first medals, and Sascha Benecken and Toni Eggert won bronze after an eighth place four years prior. Lorenz Koller and Thomas Steu missed the bronze medal by three tenth of a second, while Justin Snith and Tristan Walker, and Andris and Juris Sics failed to improve on their performances in previous appearances.

Result	Athletes		Nationality	Time
	Tobias Wendl	Tobias Arlt	Germany	1:31.697
	Peter Penz	Georg Fischler	Austria	1:31.785
	Toni Eggert	Sascha Benecken	Germany	1:31.987
4	Thomas Steu	Lorenz Koller	Austria	1:32.284
5	Tristan Walker	Justin Snith	Canada	1:32.369
6	Andris Sics	Juris Sics	Latvia	1:32.442
7	Ivan Nagler	Fabian Malleier	Italy	1:32.563
8	Justin Krewson	Andrew Sherk	United States	1:32.652
9	Park Jin-yong	Cho Jung Myung	South Korea	1:32.672
10	Matthew Mortensen	Jayson Terdiman	United States	1:32.687
11	Aleksandr Denisev	Vladislav Antonov	Olympic Athletes from Russia	1:32.781
12	Wojciech Chmielewski	Jakub Kowalewski	Poland	1:33.087
13	Lukas Broz	Antonin Broz	Czech Republic	1:33.152
14	Oskars Gudramovics	Peteris Kalnins	Latvia	1:33.207
15	Ludwig Rieder	Patrick Rastner	Italy	1:33.276
16	Andrei Bogdanov	Andrei Medvedev	Olympic Athletes from Russia	1:33.508
17	Marek Solcansky	Karol Stuchlak	Slovakia	1:33.591
18	Matej Kvicala	Jaromir Kudera	Czech Republic	1:33.728
19	Cosmin Atodiresei	Stefan Musei	Romania	1:34.272
20	Oleksandr Obolonchyk	Roman Zakharkiv	Ukraine	1:35.717