German lugers Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken, who won five world doubles titles while vying with their countrymen for sliding supremacy, announced their retirement.
“It is time for a new chapter in our lives,” the 35-year-old Eggert said, according to the International Luge Federation (FIL). “We will hang the sled on the wall and move on to new challenges.”
Benecken, 33, said he dedicated 24 years to luge.
“Of course, this is a big step,” he said, according to the FIL. “If you think about it, there are almost only the infant and toddler years, and then it started with luge. The last 13 years I spent with Toni — my teammate and friend for life. A jump like today feels like a farewell.”
Eggert and Benecken rivaled fellow Germans Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt at the top of doubles luge for most of the last decade.
Wendl and Arlt ruled the Olympics — gold in 2014, 2018 and 202 — while Eggert and Benecken took bronze in 2018 and silver in 2022.
However, Eggert and Benecken won a record five world titles in doubles, doing so at the last five worlds.