Illmann Holds Off Hudson For Two-Man Gold

From Sigulda, LAT

(January 30, 2025) – Maximilian Illmann slid to Europe Cup gold on Thursday in Sigulda, where he held off Great Britain’s Joshua Hudson and others for the victory.

Illmann and Lukas Koller pushed the quick start time in each heat, and Illmann had the quick split at every timing line along the Latvian track on their way to a .66 second victory over Hudson.

Illmann’s victory was his fourth straight in EC two-man competition and his 11th straight medal in the discipline.

Behind him, Joshua Hudson earned his first career medal on the tour, as he and Jens Hullah slid to silver, ahead of the teams of Romania’s Andrei Turea and Rares Dinca and Latvia’s Renars Grantins and Mairis Klava, who tied for third.

Grantins, sliding on his home track, was fourth coming into the second heat but outslid everyone but Illmann to move into a tie for bronze, just .04 behind Hudson for silver.

Jachym Prochazka and David Bures were fifth for Czechia, while Gregory Jones and Leandros Manganas were 6th for Switzerland.

Results:

Pos Names Nation Bib Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Finish
1 Illmann / Koller GER 7 4.95 4.93 50.39 50.79 1:41.18
2 Hudson / Hullah GBR 10 5.08 5.09 50.61 51.23 1:41.84
3 Turea / Dinca ROU 11 5.10 5.10 50.68 51.20 1:41.88
3 Grantins / Klava LAT 9 5.02 5.03 50.75 51.13 1:41.88
5 Prochazka / Bures CZE 4 5.07 5.06 50.83 51.54 1:42.37
6 Jones / Manganas SUI 5 4.96 5.01 50.77 51.91 1:42.68
7 Zakrzewski / Sarnecki POL 1 5.12 5.15 50.99 51.88 1:42.87
8 Guo / Ding CHN 8 5.09 5.00 51.13 51.86 1:42.99
9 Rohn / Limacher SUI 3 5.31 5.29 51.13 52.16 1:43.29
10 Chi / Zhang CHN 2 5.01 5.04 51.51 52.47 1:43.98
11 Ribeiro / Larrinaga POR 6 5.41 5.43 52.28 52.79 1:45.07