From Oberhof, GER
(February 10, 2024) – Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl slid to a gold medal in Oberhof, holding off a pair of German duos in the process.
The Austrians held a small lead ahead of Hannes Orlamünder and Paul Gubitz after the first heat, with Yannick Müller and Armin Frauscher in third, within a tenth of a second of their teammates.
The first big move came from Latvia’s Martins Bots and Martins Plume, as they’d entered the heat in seventh, but held a lead past teammates Eduards Sevics-Mikelsevics and Lukass Krasts and USA’s Zack DiGregorio and Sena Hollander before getting picked off by Germans Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt.
After Müller and Frauscher fell behind Bots and Plume to secure Wendl and Arlt a medal, Orlamünder and Gubitz slid to the lead, only .067 ahead of their German teammates.
On slower ice on a warm day, Steu and Kindl pulled off just a tick faster than their first start. Their second slide may have even been better than the first, and that was enough to give the Austrians a gold medal, their second.
Orlamünder and Gubitz finished second, their best finish of the year, while Wendl and Arlt once again came from behind to win a medal, this time bronze.
Bots and Plume finished fourth, ahead of Müller and Frauscher and Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf. Gatt and Schöpf’s second run was second quickest, only behind Steu and Kindl, to move up from 11th to sixth.
DiGregorio and Hollander’s second slide looked to be clean, but just didn’t have the speed needed to maintain a top five, as they finished ninth for their best finish in three events. Teammates Dana Kellogg and Frank Ike couldn’t find the magic they’d had in Altenberg and finished 17th.
Canadians Devin Wardrope and Cole Zajanski finished 15th.
With five races left on the 2023/2024 FIL World Cup calendar, Steu and Kindl lead by over 100 points over Wendl and Arlt. Bots and Plume sit third, with Gatt and Schöpf and Orlamünder and Gubitz rounding out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Steu / Kindl | AUT | 18 | 7.416 | 7.401 | 42.114 | 41.814 | 1:23.928 |
| 2 | Orlamünder / Gubitz | GER | 17 | 7.382 | 7.402 | 42.161 | 41.890 | 1:24.051 |
| 3 | Wendl / Arlt | GER | 20 | 7.326 | 7.339 | 42.233 | 41.885 | 1:24.118 |
| 4 | Bots / Plume | LAT | 19 | 7.381 | 7.387 | 42.367 | 41.897 | 1:24.264 |
| 5 | Müller / Frauscher | AUT | 11 | 7.450 | 7.488 | 42.187 | 42.177 | 1:24.364 |
| 6 | Gatt / Schöpf | AUT | 21 | 7.453 | 7.527 | 42.558 | 41.856 | 1:24.414 |
| 7 | Nagler / Malleier | ITA | 15 | 7.360 | 7.344 | 42.471 | 41.969 | 1:24.440 |
| 8 | Sevics-Mikelsevics / Krasts | LAT | 9 | 7.439 | 7.440 | 42.325 | 42.150 | 1:24.475 |
| 9 | DiGregorio / Hollander | USA | 10 | 7.433 | 7.468 | 42.273 | 42.282 | 1:24.555 |
| 10 | Rieder / Kainzwaldner | ITA | 22 | 7.426 | 7.411 | 42.600 | 41.981 | 1:24.581 |
| 11 | Jäger / Steudte | GER | 12 | 7.516 | 7.563 | 42.398 | 42.293 | 1:24.691 |
| 12 | Chmielewski / Kowalewski | POL | 13 | 7.395 | 7.422 | 42.573 | 42.133 | 1:24.706 |
| 13 | Park / Cho | KOR | 8 | 7.529 | 7.542 | 42.451 | 42.434 | 1:24.885 |
| 14 | Rider / Gufler | ITA | 16 | 7.465 | 7.473 | 42.690 | 42.279 | 1:24.969 |
| 15 | Wardrope / Zajanski | CAN | 6 | 7.489 | 7.484 | 42.594 | 42.446 | 1:25.040 |
| 16 | Vavercak / Zmij | SVK | 7 | 7.417 | 7.399 | 42.563 | 42.498 | 1:25.061 |
| 17 | Kellogg / Ike | USA | 14 | 7.562 | 7.546 | 42.865 | 42.369 | 1:25.234 |
| 18 | Gitlan / Serban | ROU | 2 | 7.550 | 7.520 | 42.874 | 42.641 | 1:25.515 |
| 19 | Huang / Peng | CHN | 4 | 7.615 | 7.585 | 43.006 | 42.730 | 1:25.736 |
| 20 | Jubayi / Hou | CHN | 3 | 7.520 | 7.525 | 43.100 | 42.715 | 1:25.815 |
| 21 | Hoi / Kachmar | UKR | 5 | 7.747 | 7.760 | 43.048 | 42.880 | 1:25.928 |
| 22 | Handaric / Motzcz | ROU | 1 | 7.579 | 7.612 | 73.668 | 43.619 | 1:57.287 |
