First Gold Medal of European Championships goes to Austria
In the first European team Championships ever the team of Austria I managed to win the gold medal. The decision was extremely tight with only one point margin between Austria I (86 points) and Italy I (85 points). Points are rewarded according to ranks in the respective runs, the total time is only used in case of a tied result in points. Melanie Batkowski achieved the full 30 points for her team which the brothers Christian and Andreas Schopf saw with great relief: "Melanie was our joker today and made up for us as our run was far from perfect. We did not have any major mistakes, it was just not ideal from top to finish, maybe also due to our nerves, the pressure was incredible", said the both after the race, even though they were harsh on themselves as they were only beaten by Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA). Especially the doubles had to adjust to the rebuilt track: "There have been some changes in the bottom part of the track, now you can go full speed through the last turns, even as a doubleseater whereas we had to brake there on the old track", said Christian Schopf who aims for a podium finish also in tomorrow's double's event: "The pressure is certainly less now after having won a gold medal already and we know that we can be faster than today." His brother Andreas has been European Champion already, he won gold with his cousin Wolfgang Schopf in the 2002 European Championships in Frantschach (AUT).
A serious contender for the title will be Melanie Batkowski who achieved the fastest time today, but has not yet shown her best performance: "I am still working on the chicane and the curve in the steep part, I know I can do better there" said the Tyrolian who has won all possible team titles now: she had been team World Champion in 2005 and 2007. She handled the pressure of a home event really well: Of course I was nervous at the start and I have also been nervous for my team mates, but this is part of the game."
Italy I with a team of three experienced athletes and one rookie took the silver medal. Newcomer Alex Gruber first drew attention on him when he upset Italian fellow Patrick Pigneter in the Italian Championships a few weeks ago. The 17-year-old student of a sports school in Mals/Vinschgau started competitive racing comparatively late: "I only started seriously in 2004, before that I saw it as a hobby. My father got me interested in luge. He is still preparing my equipment and therefore a big thank you goes to him." Alex Gruber had his first international performance in last week's world cup in Umhausen. Today he finished fourth, but he achieved the fastest time in one training run. The solid basis for the eventual silver medal for the team of Italy I was the run of Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara who once more were the fastest double.
The Austrian success completed the bronze medal of team Austria II with
Marlies Wagner, Gerald Kammerlander, Christian Schatz/Gerhard Mühlbacher. The rule that points are rewarded and added instead of actual times was to their advantage: with their final time of 3:41,49 they would have been ranked behind Italy II and Russia I, but with 80 points they managed to climb the podium. So the Kammerlander family can celebrate two medals today: gold for Thomas Kammerlander, the younger of the brothers, and bronze for Gerald, who achieved the fastest time in today's race. He will be a contender for a medal in the single's race whereas another contender will be condemned to watch the race: Gernot Schwab hoped until the last moment to be fit enough to participate in his home Championships, but his knee injury suffered in a training crash two weeks ago does not allow a start in the race.
Final Results Team Event:
1. Austria I3:37,9086
Melanie BATKOWSKI, 1:12,15(1)30
Thomas KAMMERLANDER, 1:10,75(3)28
Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF, 1:15,00(2)28
2. Italy I3:67,6785
Renate GIETL, 1:12,41(3)28
Alex GRUBER, 110,88(4)27
Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA, 1:14,38(1)30
3. Austria II3:41,4980
Marlies WAGNER, 1:14,23(5)26
Gerald KAMMERLANDER, 1:10,59(1)30
Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard Mühlbacher24
4. Italy II3:40,3278
Evelyn LANTHALER, 1:12,19(2)29
Stefan GRUBER, 1:10,69(2)29
Florian BREITENBERGER/David MAIR,1:17,44(6)20
5. Russia I3:40,4378
Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA, 1:12,59(4)27
Aleksandr EGOROV, 1:12,32(6)25
Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV, 1:15,52(3)26
6. Poland3:47,9869
Natalia WANICZEK, 1:18,27(8)23
Adam JEDRZEJKO, 1:12,90(7)24
Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK, 1:16,81(5)22
7. Germany, 3:46,8966
Michaela MAURER, Marcus GRAUSAM, Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN
8. Russia II, 3:48,4965
Ludmila ASTRAMOVISH, Jury TALYKH, Pavel SILIN/Ivan RODIN
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