Intro:

Patrick Pigneter alongside Florain Clara - and Ekaterina Lavrentyeva in the Russian sled - take the wins, in the men's double and women's race respectively, at the Natural Track Luge World Cup season-opener in Austria on Sunday.

Script:

The first round of the 2014/15 Natural Track Luge World Cup season got underway in Austria on Sunday, with the season-opener heralding a unique spectacle - a parallel race.

In the men's doubles race Patrick Pigneter and Florian Clara of Italy lived up to their pre-race billing and glided to victory.

The pair finished ahead of Russian duo Aleksander Egorov and Petr Popov to seal an impressive win, allowing them to leave the Tyrolean resort with a 15 point lead over the chasing Russians.

Pigneter put the win down to their hard work over the summer.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Patrick Pigneter, Italy:

"it is a great victory for us because it is the first race of the season. We are in good shape and we see that today and it was very good for us. We had a good start and also, on the track, we had a good training last summer and we hope so that we can win the next race again."

In the women's race - and according to expectations - Ekaterina Lavrentyeva took victory to secure her 50th World Cup win.

Greta Pinggera of Italy took second and trails her rival by 15 points in the standings.

The Natural Track Luge World Cup ends in February 2015 after six races.