From Sigulda, LAT
(January 31, 2025) – Maximilian Illmann won his third straight Europe Cup two-man race to start the 2024/2025 season, this time outlasting Latvia’s Renars Grantins for the top spot.
Illmann and Henrik Proske out-started Grantis and Edgars Ungurs by just .04 in the first heat, and Illmann out-drove Grantins by a tenth, with Great Britain’s Joshua Hudson in third.
In the second heat, Hudson and Jens Hullah held off Andrei Turea and Rauel Dobre to slide into the medals with Grantins and Illmann to go.
Grantins put down a strong second effort to take the lead. Illmann was, however, able to match Grantins to take the victory by a tenth over the Latvian, with Hudson bronze.
Illmann remained perfect in races he’d entered on the season, while Grantins took silver for the first time this season.
Hudson’s bronze was his second straight medal in Latvia.
Turea was fourth, ahead of Kilian Rohn and Livio Matossi in fifth and China’s Yulu Guo and Yunda ding sixth.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Illmann / Proske | GER | 11 | 4.99 | 4.98 | 49.85 | 50.34 | 1:40.19 |
| 2 | Grantins / Ungurs | LAT | 10 | 5.03 | 5.03 | 49.95 | 50.34 | 1:40.29 |
| 3 | Hudson / Hullah | GBR | 9 | 5.12 | 5.10 | 50.06 | 50.68 | 1:40.74 |
| 4 | Turea / Dobre | ROU | 7 | 5.09 | 5.11 | 50.20 | 50.67 | 1:40.87 |
| 5 | Rohn / Matossi | SUI | 3 | 5.22 | 5.21 | 50.25 | 50.97 | 1:41.22 |
| 6 | Guo / Ding | CHN | 2 | 5.04 | 5.00 | 50.39 | 51.22 | 1:41.61 |
| 7 | Chi / Zhu | CHN | 8 | 4.98 | 4.99 | 50.71 | 51.17 | 1:41.88 |
| 8 | Ribeiro / Larrinaga | POR | 1 | 5.39 | 5.39 | 51.06 | 52.06 | 1:43.12 |
| 9 | Prochazka / Bures | CZE | 6 | 5.07 | 5.81 | 57.74 | 52.21 | 1:49.95 |
| 10 | Zakrzewski / Buba | POL | 5 | 5.28 | 5.76 | 58.23 | 52.18 | 1:50.41 |
| DNS | Jones / Waegeli | SUI | 4 | 5.00 | 53.13 |