Olympic luge

LIVE: Decision in the doubles

Bronze for our women's luge team, with the men adding silver.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/pail, AP)

The lugers added two more medals to Austria's tally at the Olympic Games in Italy on Wednesday, bringing the total to eight.

Thomas Steu/Wolfgang Kindl won silver in the doubles competition in Cortina d'Ampezzo, while Selina Egle/Lara Kipp took bronze in the women's event. Austria's luge team now has three medals after Jonas Müller's silver in the singles.

Selina Egle and Lara Kipp(Bild: EPA/JURE MAKOVEC)

South Tyroleans unbeatable
In both races, the local heroes were able to make the most of their home advantage. In the men's event, Emanuel Rieder/Simon Kainzwaldner moved up to first place in the second run, finishing 0.068 seconds ahead of Steu/Kindl and 0.090 seconds ahead of Germany's Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt. The US half-time leaders Marcus Mueller/Ansel Haugsjaa fell back to sixth place.

Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl(Bild: AP/Aijaz Rahi)

In the women's event, two South Tyroleans, Andrea Vötter/Marion Oberhofer, also triumphed. They finished 0.120 seconds ahead of the German duo Dajana Eitberger/Magdalena Matschina and 0.259 seconds ahead of Egle/Kipp.

(Bild: GEPA)

Steu and Kindl celebrate their third medals
37-year-old Kindl, who had watched the birth of his second child via video on Monday morning, made up for his eighth place in the singles on Sunday and won his third Olympic medal after silver in Beijing 2022 (singles, team relay). "You could already see in training how many were in contention for medals in this race," he said, commenting on the minimal gaps. "It was an extremely exciting and close race, we are mega happy with the medal. That's what you have to do in such a strong field."

It was also the third Olympic medal for 32-year-old Steu, who finished third in the doubles with Lorenz Koller, who has since retired, in Beijing in 2022 and alongside Kindl's "silver medalist" in the team relay, among others.

Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl(Bild: GEPA)

"Extremely awesome," said Steu. "We had two great runs and gave it our all. The Italians were simply six hundredths of a second faster, and we accept that. We are extremely happy with the result."

Juri Gatt/Riccardo Schöpf were unable to fully translate their good training performances into results, finishing eleventh (+0.829). "The speed was right, we were doing well until we made a big mistake in the first run," Schöpf summed up on ORF. "It's a shame, it worked very well in training. But we are young, we can show what we can do again at the next Olympic Games."

Pressure drop for Egle/Kipp: "Means a lot"
In the women's event, Egle/Kipp lived up to their reputation – even if they didn't quite manage to pull off a major victory and Vötter/Oberhofer triumphed somewhat surprisingly. The ÖRV aces achieved their greatest success after winning World Championship gold in 2024 and 2025. "The medal means a lot. We can be proud of ourselves for performing so consistently throughout the season," said 23-year-old Egle. Together with her partner, who is the same age, she leads the World Cup standings, which the two had already won in 2024/25.

(Bild: APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)

  In view of a "huge mistake" in the first run, which they also finished in third place, "there wasn't much, much more" to be gained, Egle emphasized. For her and Kipp, these are their first Olympic Games, a new feeling that they first have to learn to deal with. "The Olympics are something else again, your nerves play a huge part. It's been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for months. I can really feel how much pressure is coming off now." Kipp could only confirm this: "Right now, I just want to sit down and go to sleep."

On Thursday, Austria can add to its medal haul in the team relay, which concludes the luge competitions. In addition to Müller and Steu/Kindl and Egle/Kipp, Lisa Schulte will represent Austria in the team relay.