Zachary Di Gregorio and Sean Hollander triumph in home 2023/24 luge season opener at Lake Placid

The men’s and women’s doubles kicked off the 2023/24 World Cup season in the USA with Selina Egle and Lara Michaela Kipp of Austria taking gold in the women’s doubles.

The USA’s Di Gregorio and Sean Hollander posted the second fastest time on each run as they capitalised on Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl of Austria’s poor second run.

Having led at the halfway point, Steu and Kindl were seventh fastest on the final run to finish 0.052 seconds behind Di Gregorio and Hollander, with fellow Austrians Juri Thomas Gatt and Riccardo Martin Schoepf claiming bronze.

Reigning overall men’s doubles champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany could do no better than fifth as they were unable to convert two fast starts into competitive runs.

Egle and Kipp matched their winning start to last season as they took women’s doubles victory in Lake Placid by 0.113 seconds from Dajana Eitberger and Saskia Schirmer of Germany.

The reigning world silver medallists also beat out Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer of Italy who finished 0.546 seconds behind.

The season opener in New York continues with the men’s and women’s singles before the sprint races on Saturday.