LugeTobogganing - Sochi
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The Germans Tobias Wendl and Tobias Artl, favored number one on the eve dominate the first run of the two-seater sledge.
Wednesday 12 February 2014 5 minutes reading time
The reigning world champions and leading figures of the last two seasons, they have stamped their imprint in the Olympic race, taking full advantage of the fast material especially in the central section of the track, finishing the first round with the new primacy of Sanki Olympic Sliding Center.
The two "Bayern Express" were not clean in the upper part of the gut Olympic, where strangely have not set the fastest lap time reference in the boost phase, but from the second intermediate then traveled to another planet actually mortgaging the victory with a round to spare. Wendl-Artl in fact have an advantage over the first 312 milliseconds opponents, a net margin that is unlikely to be recovered from the other competitors in a single descent.
Behind the two rulers has opened up a great fight for the final two podium positions in the final run that will involve as many as five athletes. The two-time Olympic champions Linger-Linger confirmed association with major events closing down in the first position with 108 thousandths of a second advantage over fellow Penz-Fischler, while young Canadians Tristan Walker and Justin Snith are in fourth place far only 64 milliseconds from the bronze. In the group for the medals should also include the brothers Sics Sics-fifths, very good at interpreting the final part of the track to the point of getting the best result of the season in the first round just the most important appointment of the year, and Russian Antonov-Denisyev who impress are in sixth place with 143 milliseconds of delay from the podium.
Disappoint the two double blue in the race. The veterans Oberstolz-Gruber have paid a strong overcooked at startup and some small inaccuracies in the final part that led them to close the first round in seventh place with 603 thousandths Wendl-Artl. The young Rieder-Rastner however, did very well in the initial part but then they have committed some trimming too much in the lower part ended up in his teammates for a few thousandths. In the light of the outcome of the first round the two Italian associations are unlikely to return to racing for the podium but it is hoped that at least one of the two double Italian obtain a place in the top five.
The big surprise came in the negative by the Germans Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken number two favorites for the win. The two German winners of two races of the World Cup this season, started strong but at about half track they made a mistake of hitting both sides of the gut and sinking to the tenth place on the list, cutting out accordingly for the ride medals. Negative test for Yuzhakov-Makhnutin that in this first descent have not gone beyond the ninth.
The second and decisive round will be staged starting at 17:10 Italian.
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