From Winterberg, GER
(December 6, 2025) – Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal defended Rosenthal’s home turf on Saturday with a victory in the women’s doubles event in Winterberg. But it it was a hard fought victory against their top rivals, Selina Egle and Lara Kipp.
Egle and Kipp went just ahead of Degenhardt and Rosenthal in the first heat, with the Austrians taking the lead from teammates Lina Riedl and Anna Lerch, but promptly losing it to Degenhardt and Rosenthal by just .060.
The second run saw the German duo of Dajana Eitbrerger and Magdalena Matschina slide to a comfortable lead with what was the quickest run of the heat. Egle and Kipp were able to answer, but did give up time to Eitberger and Matschina.
The final team off the top was Degenhardt and Rosenthal. The duo were quick off the top and put down a solid second effort. The slide was only .09 quicker than Egle and Kipp but enough to take gold to start the 2025/2026 Olympic season, with the Austrians second and their German teammates third.
Riedl and Lerch were fourth, while the Canadian duo of GBeattie Podulsky and Kailey Allan slid to a career-best fifth place finish.
Anda Upite and Madara Pavlova were the top Latvian team in sixth after Marta Robezniece and Kitija Bogdanova crashed out in their first run.
Afterwards, Degenhardt relished the tight victory.
“We like a good fight,” Degenhardt said about her battles with Egle and Kipp. “It should be close, and I think for us it’s the best season opener we could have opened with. We won yesterday, we won today and we’re pretty excited about the team relay!”
Egle parroted the remarks from Degenhardt regarding the close racing.
“We were really happy with our second place,” she told FIL TV after the race. “There were mistakes in both runs so there’s definitely some places where we have potential. It was a great race, when it’s close it’s almost more fun!”
For Eitberger, the race was a bit of what could have been with a slightly off first run but a near flawless second.
“This isn’t our favorite track,” she said. “Today in the first run we left a lot of time in the track. But in the second run we showed everyone we’re one of the best pair of girls in the world!”
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Degenhardt / Rosenthal | GER | 9 | 3.141 | 3.149 | 43.308 | 43.573 | 1:26.881 |
| 2 | Egle / Kipp | AUT | 8 | 3.166 | 3.179 | 43.368 | 43.582 | 1:26.950 |
| 3 | Eitberger / Matschina | GER | 10 | 3.138 | 3.147 | 43.463 | 43.552 | 1:27.015 |
| 4 | Riedl / Lerch | AUT | 3 | 3.205 | 3.195 | 43.630 | 43.832 | 1:27.462 |
| 5 | Podulsky / Allan | CAN | 1 | 3.136 | 3.143 | 44.039 | 44.171 | 1:28.210 |
| 6 | Upite / Pavlova | LAT | 2 | 3.172 | 3.186 | 44.064 | 44.197 | 1:28.261 |
| 7 | Domowicz / Piwkowska | POL | 6 | 3.277 | 3.267 | 44.190 | 44.295 | 1:28.485 |
| 8 | Stetskiv / Mokh | UKR | 7 | 3.139 | 3.201 | 44.144 | 44.357 | 1:28.501 |
| 9 | Falkensteiner / Huber | ITA | 4 | 3.183 | 3.189 | 44.689 | 44.137 | 1:28.826 |
| 10 | Stramaturaru / Manolescu | ROU | 12 | 3.196 | 3.204 | 44.339 | 44.500 | 1:28.839 |
| 11 | Praxova / Spitzova | SVK | 13 | 3.246 | 3.246 | 45.245 | 44.936 | 1:30.181 |
| DNF | Storch / Patz | GER | 5 | 3.162 | 3.196 | 43.607 | DNF | |
| DNF | Robezniece / Bogdanova | LAT | 11 | 3.148 | DNF |