February 01, 2013 - 5:42 PM
WHISTLER, B.C. - Tristan Walker and Justin Snith recorded Canada's highest finish in doubles at the FIL Luge World Championships Friday by placing fourth.
The 21-year-old Calgary natives used two personal-best start times to finish one spot off the podium at the track used during the 2010 Olympics. They clocked in with a two-run, combined time of one minute 13.346 seconds — about eight-hundredths of a second out of the bronze position.
Canada's previous best in doubles at a world championship came back in 2001, when Mike Moffat and Grant Albrecht placed sixth in Calgary.
Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, the World Cup leaders from Germany, won their first world championship title and first medal at the event since taking silver in 2008. They finished in 1:12.842 to take the title.
Wendl and Arlt were joined on the podium by countrymen Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken (1:13.042), who placed second, while the Austrian team of Andreas and Wolfgang Linger (1:13.268) earned bronze.
The under-23 world championships were also run in conjunction with Friday's race, and Walker and Snith were the winning duo for the age group. They were more than two-tenths ahead of Italy's Ludwig Rieder and Patrick Rastner.
The men's singles races took place later Friday evening in Whistler.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2013