Steu & Koller Win Altenberg Gold

From Altenberg, GER

Jan. 11, 2020 – It’s a rare event when a non-German doubles team wins gold in Altenberg, but Thomas Steu & Lorenz Koller found their way to the top of the podium at the German track to win their first gold medal of the season.

Steu & Koller (Courtesy FIL TV)

Steu & Koller set the fast start time of the first heat and fast time of the race to open up nearly a tenth of a second on Germans Toni Eggert & Sascha Benecken. The Germans relatively struggled on their second run, only putting down the sixth quickest time of the second heat, and that’s all Steu & Koller needed to take gold.

Eggert & Benecken finished second, .228 behind the Austrians.

Steu & Koller’s second run was second only to Russians Aleksandr Denisev & Vladislav Antonov, who moved up from tenth place in the first heat to third to win their first medal of the year.

Vsevolod Kashkin & Konstantin Korshunov finished just out of the medals in fourth place, while Italians Emanuel Rieder & Simon Kainzwaldner finished fifth. Robin Geueke & David Gamm edged out teammates Tobias Wendl & Tobias Arlt for sixth.

Eggert & Benecken have taken a commanding lead in the World Cup points, 86 points ahead of teammates Tobias Wendl & Tobias Arlt. Steu & Koller sit third.

The Canadian team of Tristan Walker & Justin Snith finished tenth, a handful of positions ahead of teammates Devin Wardrope & Cole Zajanski in 13th.

Americans Chris Mazdzer & Jayson Terdiman never could find their rhythm on the German track, finishing 17th.

Results:

Pos Names Nation Bib Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Total
1 Steu / Koller AUT 19 5.756 5.797 41.823 41.956 1:23.779
2 Eggert / Benecken GER 23 5.773 5.779 41.920 42.087 1:24.007
3 Denisev / Antonov RUS 15 5.814 5.792 42.172 41.888 1:24.060
4 Kashkin / Korshunov RUS 21 5.861 5.832 42.084 42.066 1:24.150
5 Rieder / Kainzwaldner ITA 12 5.814 5.842 41.969 42.200 1:24.169
6 Geueke / Gamm GER 20 5.805 5.829 42.034 42.138 1:24.172
7 Wendl / Arlt GER 22 5.782 5.785 42.119 42.066 1:24.185
8 Gudramovics / Kalnins LAT 14 5.856 5.836 42.140 42.277 1:24.417
9 Müller / Frauscher AUT 5 5.852 5.858 42.104 42.422 1:24.526
10 Walker / Snith CAN 16 5.790 5.752 42.236 42.343 1:24.579
11 Putins / Marcinkevics LAT 13 5.782 5.779 42.062 42.524 1:24.586
12 Sics / Sics LAT 17 5.829 5.846 42.661 42.025 1:24.686
13 Wardrope / Zajanski CAN 11 5.887 4.870 42.661 42.025 1:24.686
14 Rieder / Rastner ITA 18 5.787 5.791 42.359 42.458 1:24.817
15 Park / Cho KOR 9 5.984 5.960 42.487 42.494 1:24.981
16 Vavercak / Zmij SVK 7 5.908 5.965 42.398 42.670 1:25.068
17 Mazdzer / Terdiman USA 8 5.869 5.856 42.521 42.830 1:25.351
18 Stakhiv / Lysetskyi UKR 4 5.927 5.937 42.520 42.840 1:25.360
19 Nagler / Malleier ITA 10 5.893 5.840 43.044 42.587 1:25.630
20 Hoi / Levkovych UKR 3 6.011 6.020 42.661 43.256 1:25.917
21 Vejdelek / Pekny CZE 2 6.009 6.020 43.495 44.290 1:27.785
22 Shander / Mikov KAZ 6 5.954 5.932 42.581 47.036 1:29.617
DNF Siscanu / Oprea MDA 1 5.998 DNF