FIL Aquotec Natural Track Luge World Cup - Day 2

Press Information

Friday, December 18^th, 2009

 

17th-20th December 2009

Novouralsk/Yekaterinburg (RUS)

 

Thomas Schopf (AUT) wins his first World Cup race

"My goal was to try my best in this season and beat Patrick at least once. That I managed to do so in the very fisrt race is of course fantastic", said Thomas Schopf (AUT) who won his first World Cup race in Novouralsk after three consecutive second places at the end of last winter. Part of his success is his home made sled: "Last year we tested a first version of the sled, but during the summer months we invested a lot of work. Now everything is a lot more precise and sophisticated." In the meanwhile some more athletes changed their equipment and use "Sams" sleds, Gernot Schwab (AUT) being one of them. "I never would have thought that the new sled suits me that well. It makes a difference whether you have to travel eight hours or one hour when you need to see yout supplier and work on some changes or adjustments. I am really satisfied with today's result, especially considering that I have been sick in bed with fever only two weeks ago."

Patrick Pigneter, last years' serial winner, had to settle for a second place today.

 

In the women's race Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) celebrated her 28^th career win. "I could practise here a little bit and I am very satisfied with today's result, I just hope the season continues like that", said the Russian who does not deal with the extreme cold any better than her central European colleagues. "In the past ten years I spent my winters in Europe where we found the best training opportunities. Even though I am from Russia, I am not used to these temperatures any more." Runner up Melanie Batkowski (AUT) hopes for revenge in tomorrow's race: "I am satisfied to start into the season with a second place, but my race today was not a 100% perfect one. Let´s wait and see what tomorrow brings, I hope I can do a little bit better." Italy's Renate Gietl finished third and was not too unhappy about it: "A podium finish is always great, so I am satisfied, but I am not satisfied about the time margin between Katharina, Melanie and myself. But it seems that here in Russia I always finish third anyway." She was third in both Novouralsk World Cup races last year.

 

Slovenia managed to achieve their best team performance in a long time. With Nina Bucinel as 8^th and Ziga Pagon on the 7^th rank, they had their best result since 2002/2003 when Borut Kralj could win a Word Cup race in Olang, Italy.

 

 

Final results Women:

 

1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:03,18(1), 1:02,56(1), 2:05,74

2. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:03,37(2), 1:03,03(2), 2:06, 40

3. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:03,75(3), 1:03,96(3), 2:07,71

4. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:04,00(4), 1:04,20(4), 2:08,20

5. Evelyn LANTHALER (ITA), 1:04,19(5), 1:05,08(5), 2:09,27

6. Regina GILVANOVA (RUS), 1:05,92(6), 1:05,86(8), 2:11,78

7. Olga SIDOROVA (RUS), 1:06,51(7), 1:05,28(6), 2:11,79

8. Nina BUCINEL (SLO), 1:06,89(11), 1:05,84(7), 2:12,73

 

Final results Men:

 

1. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:01,36(1), 1:00,80(1), 2:02,16

2. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:01,54(2), 1:01,12(2), 2:02,66

3. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1:01,56(3), 1:01,30(3), 2:02,86

4. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:01,88(4), 1:01,51(5), 2:03,39

5. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:02,11(5), 1:01,40(4), 2:03,51

6. Stefan GRUBER (ITA), 1:02,24(7), 1:02,09(6), 2:04,33

7. Ziga PAGON (SLO), 1:02,33(8), 1:02,37(7), 2:04,70

8. Rudi RESCH (ITA), 1:02,13(6), 1:02,60(8), 2:04,73

9. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 1:02,45(9), 1:02,61(9), 2:05,06

10. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN), 1:02,48(10), 1:02,88(12), 2:05,36

 

 

World Cup Standings (1/6):

 

Women:

 

1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS)        100 points

2. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT)                    85

3. Renate GIETL (ITA)                                  70

4. Marlies WAGNER (AUT)                          60

5. Evelyn LANTHALER (ITA)              55

6. Regina GILVANOVA (RUS)                     50

7. Olga SIDOROVA (RUS)                           46

8. Nina BUCINEL (SLO)                               42

 

 

 

Men:

 

1. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT)                        100 points

2. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA)                          85

3. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT)                           70

4. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA)                     60

5. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT)          55

6. Stefan GRUBER (ITA)                              50

7. Ziga PAGON (SLO)                                  46

8. Rudi RESCH (ITA)                                    42

9. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT)                          39

10. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN)                             36

 

 

 

 

Chris Karl

FIL Media Service

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