From Winterberg, GER
(January 1, 2022) – It’s never really a surprise when Tobias Wendl & Tobias Arlt win gold, but in Winterberg it was still a bit of a shock to see them win gold.
The German duo came into the second heat in third place, behind teammates Toni Eggert & Sascha Benecken and Latvians Andris & Juris Sics. On their second run they edged out the Austrian duo of Thomas Steu & Lorenz Koller to guarantee themselves a medal with two sleds to go.
Andris & Juris Sics were next, and they found the wall on the transition from Curve 14 to Curve 15, a spot where many teams had trouble earlier in the race. The Latvians crashed and while they were able to get across the finish line they plummeted down the finishing order to 19th.
That left Toni Eggert & Sascha Benecken. They too were on their way to what looked to be like a gold medal run but they hit in almost an identical spot, crashed, and were unable to finish.
The gold for Wendl & Arlt was their first on the season and only their second medal. Thomas Steu & Lorenz Koller finished second for their fourth straight medal after returning from injury, while Yannick Müller & ARmin Frauscher finished with a bronze, their first of the season.
Latvians Martins Bots & Roberts Plume, Russians Aleksandr Denisev & Vladislav Antonov, and Italians Ludwig Rieder & Patrick Rastner rounded out the top six.
The American teams both had trouble in the first heat. Chris Mazdzer & Jayson Terdiman had an early crash, but were able to right their sled. On their second run they were quick, with the 4th quickest run of the second heat. That run plus trouble from some other teams moved them up to 16th from 23rd in the first heat.
Mazdzer & Terdiman’s teammates, Zach Di Gregorio and Sean Hollander moved up from 22nd in the first heat to finish 17th.
Canada’s Devin Wardrope & Cole Zajanski finished 13th, up from 18th in the first run.
With a handful of races yet to go in January, Sics & Sics lead Wendl & Arlt and Eggert & Benecken in the overall points. Steu & Koller, despite missing races due to injury, sit fourth.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Wendl / Arlt | GER | 19 | 3.039 | 3.042 | 43.667 | 43.517 | 1:27.184 |
| 2 | Steu / Koller | AUT | 20 | 3.022 | 3.017 | 43.708 | 43.517 | 1:27.225 |
| 3 | Müller / Frauscher | AUT | 16 | 3.068 | 3.089 | 43.769 | 43.569 | 1:27.338 |
| 4 | Bots / Plume | LAT | 18 | 3.036 | 3.044 | 43.796 | 43.639 | 1:27.435 |
| 5 | Denisev / Antonov | RUS | 14 | 3.063 | 3.066 | 43.776 | 43.668 | 1:27.333 |
| 6 | Rieder / Rastner | ITA | 17 | 3.016 | 4.011 | 43.784 | 43.679 | 1:27.463 |
| 7 | Gatt / Schöpf | AUT | 15 | 3.093 | 3.100 | 43.732 | 43.768 | 1:27.500 |
| 8 | Bogdanov / Prokhorov | RUS | 21 | 3.074 | 3.070 | 43.820 | 43.698 | 1:27.518 |
| 9 | Rieder / Kainzwaldner | ITA | 24 | 3.045 | 3.045 | 43.904 | 43.728 | 1:27.632 |
| 10 | Nagler / Malleier | ITA | 9 | 3.025 | 3.024 | 43.801 | 43.834 | 1:27.635 |
| 11 | Geueke / Gamm | GER | 12 | 3.050 | 3.042 | 43.874 | 44.114 | 1:27.988 |
| 12 | Park / Cho | KOR | 5 | 3.076 | 3.133 | 44.040 | 44.039 | 1:28.079 |
| 13 | Wardrope / Zajanski | CAN | 7 | 3.090 | 3.090 | 44.285 | 43.896 | 1:28.181 |
| 14 | Vavercak / Zmij | SVK | 6 | 3.045 | 3.051 | 44.220 | 44.077 | 1:28.297 |
| 15 | Stakhiv / Lysetskyi | UKR | 4 | 3.116 | 3.111 | 44.297 | 44.115 | 1:28.412 |
| 16 | Mazdzer / Terdiman | USA | 11 | 3.104 | 3.079 | 46.770 | 43.586 | 1:30.356 |
| 17 | Di Gregorio / Hollander | USA | 3 | 3.089 | 3.123 | 45.960 | 44.498 | 1:30.458 |
| 18 | Sics & Sics | LAT | 22 | 3.053 | 3.064 | 43.584 | 47.236 | 1:30.820 |
| 19 | Gitlan / Serban | ROU | 2 | 3.085 | 3.074 | 44.305 | 49.479 | 1:33.784 |
| DNF | Hoi / Levkovych | UKR | 1 | 3.119 | 3.172 | 44.483 | DNF | |
| DNF | Malcev / Khalilov | RUS | 8 | 3.069 | 3.064 | 43.968 | DNF | |
| DNF | Walker / Snith | CAN | 10 | 3.055 | 3.079 | 43.866 | DNF | |
| DNF | Chmielewski / Kowalewski | POL | 13 | 3.054 | DNF | |||
| DSQ | Eggert / Benecken | GER | 23 | 3.051 | 43.461 | DSQ |
