From Sigulda, LAT
(January 3, 2026) – Eduards Sevics-Mikelsevics and Lukass Krasts slid to gold on their home track on Saturday as part of a Latvian one-three finish.
Sevics-Mikelsevics and Krasts were the sixth team off in the first heat and set a downtime that would not be matched throughout the remainder of the race. But Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt got within .04 while Latvia’s Martins Bots and Roberts Plume slid to third, also within a tenth.
In the second heat Bots and Plume picked off Austria’s Yannick Müller and Armin Frauscher to guarantee Latvia at least one medal. Their downtime, the quickest of the heat, put the pressure on the two teams ahead of them.
Wendl and Arlt managed the fourth quickest run of the second heat, but it was enough to hold off Bots and Plume by just .007 to give them yet another medal in their storied career.
In the final run of the race, Sevics-Mikelsevics and Krasts pulled off the top a little slower than Wendl and Arlt, and found themselves neck-and-neck with the Germans. But their experience on the track paid off as they held their lead and won by .078 over Wendl and Arlt with Bots and Plume .085 back in third.
The win was the first ever for Sevics-Mikelsevics and Krasts. Naturally, they were elated.
“I feel perfect,” Sevics-Mikelsevics told FIL TV after the race. “The emotions of a first win on our home track? It’s incredible!”
The first win also came on Krasts’s birthday.
“This was a great birthday present,” he said. “Everyone came and congratulated me. It’s just a perfect day!”
The weather for the race was a bit warmer than in training, but that didn’t affect the Germans terribly much.
“Training here was really good this week,” Wendl said post-race. “The weather was a bit warmer today, and we had two little mistakes that cost us the victory today.”
For Bots and Plume, the race favorite, bronze was still a great feeling in front of the home fans.
“This is a great feeling to have a great result at home,” Bots said. “It means a lot that the fans came and supported us. It just really means a lot, and we’re very grateful.”
Müller and Frauscher was fourth, Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner fifth and Ivan Nagler and Fabian Malleier sixth.
The United State placed two teams in the top ten. Lake Placid gold medalists Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa slid to ninth place finish, up from tenth in the first heat, while Zack DiGregorio and Sean Hollander slid to tenth, up from 12th.
Dana Kellogg and Frank Ike had trouble in their first heat run and finished 20th.
After four races in the 2025/2026 men’s doubles World Cup season, Wendl and Arlt lead Bots and Plume by just one point. Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schöpf sitthird, with Toni Eggert and Florian Müller fourth and Müller and Frauscher fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Sevics-Mikelsevics / Krasts | LAT | 6 | 1.516 | 1.533 | 41.715 | 41.793 | 1:23.508 |
| 2 | Wendl / Arlt | GER | 14 | 1.518 | 1.514 | 41.751 | 41.835 | 1:23.586 |
| 3 | Bots / Plume | LAT | 11 | 1.534 | 1.531 | 41.689 | 41.788 | 1:23.593 |
| 4 | Müller / Frauscher | AUT | 15 | 1.520 | 1.532 | 41.842 | 41.942 | 1:23.784 |
| 5 | Rieder / Kainzwaldner | ITA | 3 | 1.543 | 1.542 | 41.855 | 41.965 | 1:23.820 |
| 6 | Nagler / Malleier | ITA | 5 | 1.506 | 1.513 | 42.117 | 41.826 | 1:23.943 |
| 7 | Steu / Kindl | AUT | 10 | 1.538 | 1.532 | 41.938 | 42.091 | 1:24.029 |
| 8 | Gatt / Schöpf | AUT | 12 | 1.525 | 1.606 | 41.965 | 42.100 | 1:24.065 |
| 9 | Mueller / Haugsjaa | USA | 4 | 1.534 | 1.541 | 42.161 | 42.155 | 1:24.316 |
| 10 | DiGregorio / Hollander | USA | 8 | 1.580 | 1.563 | 42.315 | 42.003 | 1:24.318 |
| 11 | Bosman / Mick | SVK | 2 | 1.651 | 1.710 | 42.291 | 42.337 | 1:24.628 |
| 12 | Brunner / Weissensteiner | ITA | 1 | 1.572 | 1.589 | 42.323 | 42.309 | 1:24.632 |
| 13 | Chmielewski / Gancarczyk | POL | 9 | 1.541 | 1.525 | 42.471 | 42.321 | 1:24.792 |
| 14 | Markitans / Lazdans | LAT | 17 | 1.599 | 1.640 | 42.486 | 42.843 | 1:25.329 |
| 15 | Martsinovskyi / Babura | UKR | 19 | 1.557 | 1.556 | 42.751 | 42.627 | 1:25.378 |
| 16 | Eggert / Müller | GER | 13 | 1.540 | 1.553 | 41.938 | 43.467 | 1:25.405 |
| 17 | Hoi / Kachmar | UKR | 18 | 1.609 | 1.652 | 42.957 | 42.692 | 1:25.649 |
| 18 | Panchuk / Muts | UKR | 21 | 1.559 | 1.570 | 42.938 | 42.915 | 1:25.853 |
| 19 | Kellogg / Ike | USA | 20 | 1.595 | 43.175 | |||
| 20 | Gitlan / Serban | ROU | 22 | 1.588 | 43.861 | |||
| 21 | Jubayi / Hou | CHN | 16 | 1.635 | 47.889 | |||
| DNS | Orlamünder / Gubitz | GER | 7 | DNS |