First World Cup victory for Latvian youngsters Bots/Plume

St. Moritz (FIL) The "rookies of the year" were Martins Bots and Roberts Plume after their third place, their first podium in the Eberspächer Luge World Cup, on their home track in Sigulda.
At the season finale in the Olympic bobsleigh track in St. Moritz-Celerina, the U-23 European champions achieved the very big surprise. The young Latvians won their first World Cup race ahead of their compatriots Andris and Juris Sics. They were 0.064 seconds ahead in the two runs.

In the process, Bots/Plume also showed strong nerves, because after the fastest run in the first heat, they had to start last in the only natural ice track. "It's crazy to be able to celebrate the first victory in the World Cup in such a beautiful place", Martins Bots was happy, "the fact that we were in the lead after the first run didn't stress us. We already knew the track from the Youth Olympic Games two years ago."
Italy's Ludwig Rieder and Patrick Rastner came in third. "We already had a feeling that something could go," said senior Rieder, "but that the two Latvian doubles are so strong, we didn't expect that."

Although Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller could only finish seventh in the race, it was also enough for the two Austrians, who had already won the overall World Cup as well as the sprint classification, to triumph in the doubles classification. "We were behind in training all week," said Koller, "in the race we managed to get the two best runs." And Obermann Steu said, beaming with joy, "It was a really cool season."

The second place in the final race allowed the Sics brothers to overtake World Champions Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken, who had a wild drift in the finish bend and dropped from second to fourth position, in the overall World Cup. Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt finished fourth. The last time the four-time Olympic champions were not on the podium in the overall standings was in the 2009/2010 season.