Golden couple for Italy! Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer win in the luge final

Third gold medal for Italy at the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics. Italy&#8217s pairing of Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer won the women&#8217s doubles luge final, taking the 12th medal in total for Italy at these games.

The two Italians did not let emotion betray them and confirmed what they did well in the heat, finishing second with a time of 53.182. The two Azzurre beat the German duo of Eitberger and Matschina, silver, and the Austrians Egle and Kipp, who had to settle for bronze. Fourth place went to Latvia’s Robzeniece and Bogdanova.

Under the eyes of President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, the two Azzurre dominated the race: after finishing the first run ahead by 22 thousandths, they were the protagonists of a perfect second run, which increased the lead to 120 thousandths. The luge thus gives another medal to Italy, and returns of the most valuable metal for the first time since Armin Zoeggeler’s victory in Turin.

Luca Franzosi

Andrea Vötter, class of 1995 from Fiè allo Scilliar, already had Olympic appearances in the singles event behind her, while it was five-ring debut Marion Oberhofer, from Puster in 2000: the two South Tyrolean women have formed a very solid pair since the specialty&#8217s debut.

Together they won the World Cup in women’s doubles in 2022/23 and 2023/24, collecting 1 gold and 2 bronze medals between the World Championships in Oberhof 2023 and Altenberg 2024 while climbing 24 times on the World Cup podium with six victories.

“Italy made it possible to build such a beautiful track: we believe it is a great satisfaction for everyone. – said Andrea and Marion after the race – It is an honor to win this medal on the day of the arrival of President Sergio Mattarella in Cortina. In the first run we were not too precise, we analyzed our work a little bit and in the second run we were perfect. Olympic gold is the dream of every little girl who loves sports: the bronze medal of Dominik Fischnaller inspired us, after our first run our whole team helped us.”

“We are different, we are friends but what counts is what we do together on the sled: to be gold twenty years after the last gold by Armin Zöggeler, who trains us today, is something wonderful. We want to dedicate all this to those who are close to us: the parents, the coaches but above all to all of Italy. We have worked for four years to get here and we have managed to do something special.
We managed to win two World Cups in our first seasons together, but to get to this gold is something magical.