The top three men’s doubles teams pose during the FIL Luge World Cup flower ceremony Friday after their second run at Mount Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid. From left are Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl of Austria, silver; Zachary Di Gregorio and Sean Hollander of the United States, gold; and Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schopf of Austria, bronze. (Provided photo — Lauren Howe/USA Luge)

LAKE PLACID — The U.S. men’s doubles luge team of Zack DiGregorio and Sean Hollander had never competed in a FIL Luge World Cup on their home track at Mount Van Hoevenberg prior to this past weekend.

But, Hollander, a Lake Placid native, said they know the track like the back of their hands.

“We’ve had hundreds of runs here,” he said.

In front of their friends and family — or more specifically for DiGregorio, of Medway, Massachusetts, 36 of his friends and family members — the American duo proved how well they know the Lake Placid track when they earned their first World Cup victory on Dec. 8.

“To be able to win in front of them was amazing,” DiGregorio said. “Lake Placid has always been a very special place for me. I’ve been coming up here since I was like 7 years old and never racing here other than nationals. It was really cool to see a World Cup and to win just that extra cherry on top.”

DiGregorio and Hollander had the second-fastest time in both heats and finished in 1 minute, 27.630 seconds. Their efforts were good enough to beat Austria’s Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl. The new Austrian duo had set the fastest time of 43.645 seconds in the first run but made mistakes in turns seven and eight in the second run.

“We didn’t take any risks, the sled was set up on the safe side,” Steu said in a statement. “I made a stupid driving mistake that was really unnecessary.”

The American men’s doubles win was the first in the last 184 World Cup men’s doubles races, dating back to Dec. 9, 2005 — when three-time World Cup overall winners Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin won their last World Cup. Grimmette and Martin had 11 World Cup wins in their career.

“It’s a lot of first,” Hollander said. “It’s the first World Cup in Lake Placid for me and Zack, and it’s a first World Cup medal for me and Zack — and it was first (place).”

With the win the duo, will compete in the Whistler, British Columbia wearing the coveted yellow bib which says “World Cup Leader.” Hollander said its been a dream since he was 15 years old to wear the yellow bib.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever really dreamed about it,” DiGreogrio said. “But I never knew how close of a reality it was and to have that going into next week is great.”

Four-time Olympian Chris Mazdzer, who retired from luge following the World Cup, said he was thrilled to see DiGregorio and Hollander win.

“I can’t remember the last time the yellow bib was in the U.S. That’s so sweet,” he said.

Austria’s second team of Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schopf (0.072 seconds back) finished third ahead of Latvia’s Martins Bots and Roberts Plume (0.111), Olympic Champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt (Germany/0.223) and Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner (Italy/0.331).

The other U.S. men’s doubles team — Dana Kellogg and Frank Ike — finished in 10th place with a time of 1:28.482.

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Women’s doubles

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Selina Egle and Lara Kipp also caused a surprise. The Austrian duo had never raced on the Olympic track in Lake Placid before. Accordingly, the two Tyroleans approached the task with caution.

“We were warned about the technically challenging track,” Lara Kipp said. “So we were a bit scared and nervous. But we got along well right from the start, the track suits us.”

And so they set the fastest time in the first run.

In the end, they clocked 1:28.924 minutes. Dajana Eitberger and Saskia Schirmer (Germany) were 0.113 seconds longer on the track at their World Cup debut.

“It was like all the races we’ve done together. I was unbelievably nervous, you could see that in the first run,” the Sprint World Champion admitted after her first World Cup in doubles, “the second run was so much fun from start to finish, there’s nothing to complain about.”

Last season’s overall World Cup winners Andrea Votter and Marion Oberhofer finished third ahead of the U.S. duo Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby (1:29.574). The other U.S. women’s doubles team of Maya Chan and Reannyn Weiler placed sixth with a time of 1:30.014.