From Oberhof, GER
(January 18, 2026) – Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal slid to their second straight gold to stay perfect in Germany during the 2025/2026 World Cup season.
The duo left nothing to chance over two heats. In the first run they threw down both a start record and track record run to take a lead of .149 over Austrian rivals Selina Egle and Lara Kipp, with teammates Dajana Eitberger and Magdalena Matschina sitting third, just over two hundredhs behind the Austrians.
The second heat saw Americans Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby slide to the lead ahead of Latvia’s Anda Upite and Madara Pavlova, then hold that lead as neither Marta Robezniece and Kitija Bogdanova nor the team of Elisa-Marie Storch and Pauline Patz could match their two-run time.
The Americans were eventually bumped out of the leaders’ box by Eitberger and Matschina, who had an otherwise quick and clean run to take the lead and score at least bronze.
Egle and Kipp were next. The duo started nearly a tenth slower, but had a great second effort to set a track record and take the lead, putting pressure on Degenhardt and Rosenthal.
But the German champs were undeterred. Degenhardt and Rosenthal’s second start was only a hundredth off their first heat record, and their second effort was even better than their first, enough to leave with the track record and a gold medal to go with.
The margin of victory was .181 from the Germans to the Austrians, with Eitberger and Matschina third, .332 off the lead.
Despite a decent lead after the first heat, Degenhardt and Rosenthal were motivated by getting back their track record they’d set in the first heat.
“When I heard at the start that they got the track record from us and I was like “No! We have to get it back again!”,” Degenhardt told FIL TV after the race. “It was an incredible race, the weather was good and our sled worked really well in these conditions. Having a start record and track record is just unbelievable!”
Forgan and Kirkby finished fourth, Storch and Patz fifth, with Upite and Pavlova rounding out the top six.
Maya Chan and Sophia Gordon slid to ninth place, two spots ahead of Beattie Podulsky and Kailey Allan in 11th.
With three races to go in the World Cup season, Egle and Kipp lead Eitberger and Matschina by 60 points, with Degenhardt and Rosenthal another 50 points back in third. Forgan and Kirkby sit fourth, with Upite and Pavlova fifth and Chan and Gordon sixth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Degenhardt / Rosenthal | GER | 11 | 7.568 | 7.567 | 41.952 | 42.004 | 1:23.956 |
| 2 | Egle / Kipp | AUT | 9 | 7.710 | 7.674 | 41.984 | 42.153 | 1:24.137 |
| 3 | Eitberger / Matschina | GER | 12 | 7.664 | 7.679 | 42.109 | 42.179 | 1:24.288 |
| 4 | Forgan / Kirkby | USA | 8 | 7.635 | 7.643 | 42.254 | 42.391 | 1:24.645 |
| 5 | Storch / Patz | GER | 2 | 7.664 | 7.663 | 42.723 | 42.262 | 1:24.985 |
| 6 | Upite / Pavlova | LAT | 3 | 7.757 | 7.750 | 42.464 | 42.546 | 1:25.010 |
| 7 | Robezniece / Bogdanova | LAT | 7 | 7.667 | 7.656 | 42.683 | 42.384 | 1:25.067 |
| 8 | Domowicz / Piwkowska | POL | 4 | 7.800 | 7.786 | 42.714 | 42.848 | 1:25.562 |
| 9 | Chan / Gordon | USA | 10 | 7.793 | 7.823 | 42.772 | 42.853 | 1:25.625 |
| 10 | Stramaturaru / Manolescu | ROU | 1 | 7.801 | 7.818 | 42.966 | 43.181 | 1:26.147 |
| 11 | Podulsky / Allan | CAN | 6 | 7.721 | 7.712 | 42.939 | 43.268 | 1:26.207 |
| 12 | Stetskiv / Mokh | UKR | 5 | 7.707 | 7.706 | 43.159 | 43.256 | 1:26.415 |
| 13 | Praxova / Spitzova | SVK | 13 | 7.999 | 7.995 | 43.614 | 43.784 | 1:27.398 |