Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner can call themselves Olympic champions. © ANSA / DANIEL DAL ZENNARO

Gold rush in Cortina: Rieder and Kainzwaldner also triumph!

Gold rush on the Cortina Olympic track: Just about an hour after the triumph of Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer, Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner also won gold in the men's doubles, making the South Tyrolean luge day perfect.

February 11, 2026

From: do

South Tyrol won two gold medals on Wednesday. Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer won the first South Tyrolean gold medal in the women's doubles. Having already won gold at the Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina, two more South Tyroleans followed suit about 60 minutes later. Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner catapulted themselves to the top of the podium in the men's doubles with a furious second run, sending South Tyrolean cheers echoing through Cortina once again. Silver went to Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl from Austria (+0,068 seconds), and bronze to the Germans Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt (+0,090).

Rieder and Kainzwaldner had entered the decisive second run in third place. The lugers exploded out of the starting gate and delivered an absolutely superb run. Especially in the lower section of the track, the athletes from Meransen and Villanders nailed every line and every angle – the green light flashed at the finish line. At that point, the bronze medal was already secured.

But two pairs were still in contention. The Austrians Steu and Kindl launched the first attack on the fastest time. After a nervous run, they ultimately missed out on the top spot by just 0,068 seconds to the South Tyroleans. Next up were the Americans Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa, who had a chance at their country's first Olympic gold medal in luge. However, they couldn't withstand the pressure of the major event: After serious errors in the middle and lower sections of the track, the American duo even dropped back to sixth place. This meant gold for Rieder and Kainzwaldner – the second gold medal for South Tyrol in a very short time.

Nailer and Malleier solid

Ivan Nagler and Fabian Malleier could still dream of a medal after the first run. At the halfway point, the top seven pairs were separated by just 16 hundredths of a second. Despite a spirited second run, the two South Tyroleans couldn't mount a major comeback. In the end, they finished in a respectable seventh place – just 0,218 seconds behind their teammates Kainzwaldner and Rieder.

The result