Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt claim fourth European title as Germany impress at Luge European Championships in Sigulda

BySportsbeat

Published 14/01/2023 at 21:39 GMT

Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt continued their dominance in the men's doubles with a fourth European title as Max Langenhan stormed to men's singles gold in a German 1-2. The German duo beat out home favourites Martins Bots and Roberts Plume of Latvia by just 0.062 as Max Langenhan added to Germany's success, winning the men's singles title with a remarkable comeback.

INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA - DECEMBER 03: Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany compete in the men's double race during the FIL Luge World Cup at Olympia-Eiskanal Iglis on December 03, 2022 in Innsbruck, Austria. (Photo by Jan Hetfleisch/Getty Images)

Image credit: Eurosport

Olympic champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt added a fourth European title to their haul with victory in the men's doubles in Sigulda.

The German duo beat out home favourites Martins Bots and Roberts Plume of Latvia by just 0.062 as Max Langenhan added to Germany's success, winning the men's singles title with a remarkable comeback.

Italy's Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer won the first-ever women's doubles European Championship title ahead of Anda Upite and Sanija Ozolina of Latvia.

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Wendl and Arlt were third after the first run, their time of 42.173 putting them behind Bots and Plume and another Latvian pair in the form of Eduards Sevics-Mikelsevics and Lukass Krasts.

However, the Beijing gold medallists produced the fastest time of anyone in the second run to finish with an overall time of 1:24.022 to win their first European title in four years.

Arlt said: "It is a dream to race here in front of this enthusiastic crowd. Finally, there are spectators on site again.

"We are incredibly happy to race here in Sigulda and are also doing well. To take the overall World Cup lead here and win the fourth European Championship title is just great."

In the men's singles, Max Langenhan climbed from 12th to first to claim his maiden European title ahead of compatriot Felix Loch and Kristers Aparjods of Latvia.

Langehan was 0.439 seconds behind provisional leader Nico Gleirscher of Austria after the first run before producing the fastest time of the competition to claim gold, 0.058 seconds ahead of three-time champion Loch.

Aparjods dropped from second to third to earn back-to-back medals at the European Championships as last year's bronze medallist Gleirscher had to settle for fourth.

Voetter and Oberhofer became the first-ever women's doubles European champions, setting the fastest time in both runs to come home in 1:26.281.

Upite and Oxolina were over half a second behind them with Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal of Germany in third having moved up from fifth with a strong second run.

As Voetter made history, she celebrated that hers and Oberhofer's switch from women's singles has paid off.

"We could show two great runs today and we are really happy about the European Championship title," the 27-year-old said.

"The race today was, I think, the best we have shown so far. Our double experiment is really going really well."

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