From Lake Placid, USA
(December 8, 2023) – It had been 18 years since the United States had won a World Cup gold medal in men’s doubles luge, not since the team of Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin took to the ice.
On Friday, Zack DiGregorio and Sean Hollander broke the doubles winless streak with a gold medal in Lake Placid.
The 2022 Olympians entered the second run of competition trailing Austrian’s Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl by .145, with Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf sitting in third.
The second run sat Gatt and Schöpf slide into the medals edging out Latvians Martins Bots and Roberts Plume, who set the quick downtime of the race on their second run.
DiGregorio and Hollander were next, and a strong start and smooth slide put them into the lead with the duo of Steu and Kindl to go.
Steu and Kindl matched DiGregorio and Hollander’s start time, but that’s where the two runs’ similarities ended. Steu and Kindl had a messy first few curves and were never able to recover as they crossed the finish line in second place, .052 back.
“After the first run sitting in second to come from behind, it’s crazy,” DiGregorio said about he and Hollander’s race. “We had some mistakes in the first run, but on the second run we threw down and it was enough!”
“We knew we had a lot of speed here,” Hollander added. “It’s just the perfect weekend for us so far to win in in front of our friends and family!”
Gatt and Schöpf finished third, .072 back to put two Austrian sleds on the podium.
Bots and Plume finished fourth, just over a tenth ahead of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany who rounded out the top five.
The United States put both of their sleds in the top ten. Dana Kellogg and Frank Ike scored a tenth place finish, just ahead of Germany’s Max Ewald and Jakob Jannusch in 11th.
Canada’s Devin Wardrope and Cole Zajanski struggled to get their footing in Lake Placid and finished in 16th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | DiGregorio / Hollander | USA | 13 | 6.262 | 6.297 | 43.790 | 43.840 | 1:27.630 |
| 2 | Steu / Kindl | AUT | 8 | 6.275 | 6.297 | 43.645 | 44.037 | 1:27.682 |
| 3 | Gatt / Schöpf | AUT | 17 | 6.288 | 6.304 | 43.851 | 43.851 | 1:27.702 |
| 4 | Bots / Plume | LAT | 14 | 6.279 | 6.304 | 43.953 | 43.788 | 1:27.741 |
| 5 | Wendl / Arlt | GER | 18 | 6.239 | 6.241 | 43.971 | 43.882 | 1:27.853 |
| 6 | Rieder / Kainzwaldner | ITA | 19 | 6.266 | 6.273 | 43.971 | 43.972 | 1:27.943 |
| 7 | Müller / Frauscher | AUT | 15 | 6.319 | 6.326 | 43.995 | 44.004 | 1:27.999 |
| 8 | Orlamünder / Gaubitz | GER | 16 | 6.254 | 6.275 | 43.989 | 44.134 | 1:28.123 |
| 9 | Nagler / Malleier | ITA | 7 | 6.275 | 6.261 | 44.100 | 44.292 | 1:28.392 |
| 10 | Kellogg / Ike | USA | 5 | 6.377 | 6.353 | 44.231 | 44.251 | 1:28.482 |
| 11 | Ewald / Jannusch | GER | 4 | 6.324 | 6.371 | 44.290 | 44.272 | 1:28.562 |
| 12 | Chmielewski / Kowalewski | POL | 9 | 6.287 | 6.286 | 44.238 | 44.514 | 1:28.752 |
| 13 | Rieder / Gufler | ITA | 6 | 6.309 | 6.345 | 44.587 | 44.448 | 1:29.035 |
| 14 | Vavercak / Zmij | SVK | 11 | 6.298 | 6.320 | 44.429 | 44.648 | 1:29.077 |
| 15 | Gitlan / Serban | ROU | 2 | 6.389 | 6.396 | 44.759 | 44.742 | 1:29.501 |
| 16 | Wardrope / Zajanski | CAN | 1 | 6.360 | 6.367 | 44.669 | 44.890 | 1:29.559 |
| 17 | Hoi / Kachmar | UKR | 3 | 6.443 | 6.452 | 44.878 | 44.961 | 1:29.839 |
| 18 | Handaric / Motzca | ROU | 12 | 6.441 | 6.417 | 45.923 | 45.138 | 1:31.061 |
| 19 | Sevics-Mikelsevics / Krasts | LAT | 10 | 6.313 | 6.338 | 46.154 | 44.997 | 1:31.151 |