New equipment leads Russia’s Tsvetkov/Moiseev to title Laas (ck) - “The Russians were too strong for us” admitted the eventual silver medallists Christoph Regensburger/Dominik Holzknecht (AUT), who had been in the lead after the first run but were defeated in the second. The new European Junior Champions are Maxim Tsvetkov/Denis Moiseev (RUS) who could win the race with the fastest time in the second run. “We tried this new blade today for the very first time”, they said. “In the first run it did not work perfectly, but the second run was great and we did not make a single mistake”, said Maxim Tsvetkov, who comes from Bratsk in Siberia and studies management. His partner Denis Moiseev studies economics, also in Bratsk, a town of 260,000 people in the Irkutsk province. Defending champion Christoph Regensburger had to switch to a new partner, as Thomas Kammerlander, his partner of two years ago, is not a junior any more. Christoph Regensburger and Dominik Holzknecht want to keep racing together. Both are from Umhausen and both have been sledding since their early childhood days. “I started when I was six”, said Dominik. The sport runs in his family anyway: “Elvira Holzknecht is my father’s cousin”. Elvira Holzknecht with her 16 world cup wins is until today Austria’s most successful female luger. The world coup is also the next goal for Christoph Regensburger and Dominik Holzknecht: “We have started as a double pair one year ago and we will see what the future holds for us.” Currently they use all their vacation time for training and attending races. Dominik works as a stonecutter and Christoph is a brick layer. The bronze medal went to Russia’s Stanislav Kovshik/ Ilya Tarasov. The athletes from Kandalaksha at the White Sea could gain some experience in the world cup already. Ergebnisse Junioren Doppelsitzer (8): 1. Maxim TSVETKOV/Denis MOISEEV (RUS), 1:06,84(2), 1:06,21(1), 2:13,05 2. Christoph REGENSBURGER/Dominik HOLZKNECHT (AUT), 1:06,36(1), 1:07,19(3), 2:13,55 3. Stanislav KOVSHIK/Ilya TARASOV(RUS), 1:07,12(3), 1:06,85(2), 2:13,97 4. Pavel SILIN/Ilija KOROBOV(RUS), 1:08,39(4), 1:08,81(4), 2:17,20 5. Lukas GORYL/Miroslaw SOJKA (POL), 1:08,90(5), 2:17,89 TV-footage from the event can be seen at www.sporttime.tv!