From Altenberg, GER
(March 7, 2026) – The season title was entirely out of reach for Austria’s Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl, but it didn’t keep the duo from sliding to their second straight victory to finish out the 2025/2026 World Cup season.
In warm temperatures but quick ice, Steu and Kindl slid to a track record 41.149 in the first heat to open up a .15 second advantage over Germany’s Toni Eggert and Florian Müller, with Austria’s Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf in third, just six thousandths of a second behind Eggert and Müller.
With the ice slowing up in the second heat, Gatt and Schöpf put down a strong second run to take the lead from Italy’s Ivan Nagler and Fabian Malleier, who’d climbed the ladder from seventh place into the hunt for a medal.
That climb stopped at fourth for the Italians, with Gatt and Schöpf able to hold off Eggert and Müller, but the Germans able to keep just ahead of Nagler and Malleier.
Finally it was Steu and Kindl’s turn. The final team off in the second heat, the Austrians couldn’t quite match their first slide’s effort, coming down .45 slower than their first effort but with still over a tenth in the bank ahead of their teammates to win their second straight gold and fourth medal in five races.
“The track was really fast today and we had two really solid runs and we’re pretty happy about that,” understated Steu after the race. “We’re second in the overall World Cup, so it’s been a pretty awesome season!”
When asked about how the season went as a whole, Kindl said it wasn’t quite as easy as it looked.
“With the Olympic qualification it wasn’t that easy. It was really close and really hard for us, so we didn’t have the best races in the first part of the season.”
Gatt and Schöpf won their fifth medal of the season with a silver, while Eggert and Müller took bronze for their third medal of the season.
Nagler and Malleier were fourth, Yannick Müller and Armin Frauscher fifth, with Latvia’s Martins Bots and Roberts Plume sixth.
Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt had already had clinched the World Cup title after St. Moritz, and took the race off. Taking their place was the young team of Louis Grünbeck and Maxmilian Kühert who slid to 11th.
“It was a really tough season for us,” Wendl told FIL media after the race. “The beginning wasn’t so good, but we got into the flow and a win in Oberhof at European Championships was really big. This being our seventh World Cup title is really big.”
Wendl and Arlt took the season title by 31 points over Steu and Kindl, with Gatt and Schöpf third, just six points behind their Austrian teammates.
Eggert and Müller were fourth and Bots and Plume fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Steu / Kindl | AUT | 13 | 5.717 | 5.739 | 41.149 | 41.605 | 1:22.754 |
| 2 | Gatt / Schöpf | AUT | 12 | 5.734 | 5.762 | 41.297 | 41.583 | 1:22.880 |
| 3 | Eggert / Müller | GER | 11 | 5.754 | 5.759 | 41.291 | 41.613 | 1:22.904 |
| 4 | Nagler / Malleier | ITA | 10 | 5.733 | 5.717 | 41.468 | 41.461 | 1:22.929 |
| 5 | Müller / Frauscher | AUT | 6 | 5.783 | 5.802 | 41.305 | 41.659 | 1:22.964 |
| 6 | Bots / Plume | LAT | 15 | 5.758 | 5.827 | 41.424 | 41.713 | 1:23.137 |
| 7 | Sevics-Mikelsevics / Krasts | LAT | 5 | 5.765 | 5.768 | 41.706 | 41.754 | 1:23.460 |
| 8 | Bosman / Mick | SVK | 7 | 5.888 | 5.893 | 41.688 | 41.790 | 1:23.478 |
| 9 | Rieder / Kainzwaldner | ITA | 9 | 5.810 | 5.799 | 41.805 | 41.682 | 1:23.487 |
| 10 | Orlamünder / Gubitz | GER | 14 | 5.762 | 5.915 | 41.459 | 42.432 | 1:23.891 |
| 11 | Grünbeck / Kührt | GER | 2 | 5.846 | 5.853 | 41.879 | 42.335 | 1:24.214 |
| 12 | Martsinovskyi / Babura | UKR | 3 | 5.820 | 5.838 | 42.082 | 42.183 | 1:24.265 |
| 13 | Hoi / Kachmar | UKR | 4 | 5.911 | 5.891 | 42.042 | 42.270 | 1:24.312 |
| 14 | Gitlan / Serban | ROU | 1 | 5.892 | 5.873 | 44.278 | 42.576 | 1:26.854 |
| 15 | Chmielewski / Gancarczyk | POL | 8 | 5.696 | 5.702 | 41.606 | 71.879 | 1:33.485 |