Latvia celebrates European Championship title of Sics brothers

Sigulda (FIL): Andris and Juris Sics not only won the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup at home in Sigulda, with this the Latvians also secured the FIL European Championships. It is an improvement from 2018, when they had finished second at the continental title competitions. With a gap of 0.029 seconds, the German duo Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt finished second ahead of the young Latvian duo Martins Bots and Roberts Plume (0.100 seconds behind), who are competing in their first season in the World Cup. With this placing, the 21-year-old frontdriver Bots and his co-pilot, who is one year younger, secured the title as European U23 Champions.

"With this victory, the biggest dream of our career has come true," said Andris Sics, beaming with joy. "Sics/Sics deserved to win, they drove better twice," congratulated Tobias Wendl, "they were faster, so they deserve to be European champions." Juris Sics was especially happy about the great rides of Bots/Plume. "We are glad that there will be a strong duo in Latvia also in the future," said Juris Sics, 36 years older and one year older than brother Andris. And told from the daily training routine: "The other two doubles are putting a lot of pressure on us. That's why we train even more intensively." Only at one point the winners were a little sad: "Of course, it's a pity that no spectators can be at the track. But we felt the support of our fans on the TV." Nevertheless, Sics/Sics had to take countless selfies with helpers at the track after their triumph. Right down to the penguin mascot.

Austrians Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller finished fifth behind Russians Vsevolod Kashkin/Konstantin Korshunov. "This placement is worth more than many a podium finish," said Steu, "the lead in the overall World Cup remains a fine snapshot, the decisive factor is who is ahead after the final in St. Moritz." However, their chances for the trophy have increased, because Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken crashed in the first run and lost the top position as a result.

The order in the U-23 European Championship was Bots/Plume ahead of Kashkin/Korshunov and Italy's Ivan Nagler/Fabian Malleier.

The detailed results of the 6th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in Sigulda (LAT) can be found using the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/eberspaecher-world-cup-4

Results of the 52nd FIL Luge European Championships and the 2021 U23 European Championships in Sigulda (LAT) can be found here: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/fil-european-championships-9