The duo of Emanuele Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner is the most successful in the Italian national team in 32 years // Photo: apnews.com
The Italian tandem covered the 1.7 km toboggan run in 1 minute 45.086 seconds. Austria’s Thomas Stoy and Wolfgang Kindl took second place, 0.068 seconds behind the winners. The Germans Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, who finished 0.09 seconds behind the champions, won the bronze medals.
For the 32-year-old Rieder and 31-year-old Kainzwaldner, the Olympic medal at the 2026 Games was the debut medal of their careers.
For the first time in 32 years, the Italian duo managed to win the men’s luge competitions. In the previous time athletes from the Apennines managed to become Olympic champions in this discipline at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer (Norway) in 1994. At that time, Kurt Brugger and Wilfried Huber won top medals.
The competition was held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, 400 kilometers northeast of Milan. In the final round, 17 duets competed for medals.
According to the results of the fifth competition day of the XXV Olympic Winter Games, the Italian team is in third place in the team medal standings. The hosts of the Games won four gold, two silver and seven bronze medals.
