Eggert, Benecken claim 5th doubles luge World Cup win

WINTERBERG, Germany (AP) Germany's Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken won a doubles race to extend their lead in the luge World Cup standings with their fifth victory of the season on Saturday.

Eggert and Benecken were fastest in both runs for a combined time of 1 minute, 27.013 seconds, 0.108 seconds faster than compatriots Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, who had won the previous three races.

''I already had a grin on my face at the final corner, because I felt that we were going to win,'' Eggert said.

Latvia's Andris Sics and Juris Sics were 0.510 back in third.

Americans Matthew Mortensen and Jayson Terdiman were 1.079 back in 10th, while Canada's Tristan Walker and Justin Snith skipped the race.

After eight of 12 events, Eggert and Benecken lead by 70 points ahead of Olympic champions Wendl and Arlt.

Four-time champion Felix Loch of Germany extended his lead in the men's singles standings with his fifth win of the season later Saturday.

The Olympic champion was fastest in both runs for a combined time of 1:45.361, beating Russia's Stepan Fedorov by 0.072.

American Tucker West was 0.357 back in third, ahead of Italy's Kevin Fischnaller and Germany's Julian von Schleinitz.

It was West's fourth medal of the World Cup season.

''To take third place was a real success after the terrible training I had,'' said the 19 year old from Ridgefield, Conn., who crashed twice in the six training runs prior to the race.

The medal gave USA Luge a total of 12 for the 2014-2015 World Cup season, one medal shy of its single-season high of 13 set in 1996-1997.

Loch has won all but three of eight races and he increased his lead over compatriot Andi Langenhan to 230 points with his 23rd World Cup win.

The women's and team relay events were scheduled for Sunday.