OBERHOF, Germany — Canada’s Tristan Walker and Justin Snith matched a season-best fifth-place finish in doubles action at the luge World Cup on Saturday.
Strong starts and solid runs propelled the Canadian duo based out of Calgary to a two-run time of one minute 22.673 seconds.
“I’m a lot happier with the fifth today,” said Walker. “The runs could have been a little bit cleaner, and I think that could have got us to fourth, but the podium is still a little way away. That said we’re definitely moving in the right direction.”
The 27-year-old Olympic silver medallists in the team relay were also fifth at World Cup stops in Whistler and Lake Placid this year.
They were .722 seconds off the leading pace set by Germany’s Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, who set the golden standard at 1:21.951. Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken clocked-in at 1:22.151 for the silver medal, while Latvia’s Andris Sics and Juris Sics slid to the bronze medal with a time of 1:22.274.
Reid Watts was the lone Canadian in the men’s singles singles race.
The 20-year-old Whistler-based slider slid to 19th spot with a two-run time of 1:27.070.
Russia’s Semen Pavlichenko won gold in men’s singles with a time of 1:26.203. Roman Repilov, also of Russia, was second at 1:26.247. Latvia’s Kristers Aparjods finished third with a time of 1:26.384.