FIL aqotec WORLD CUP
NATURAL TRACK LUGE
Press Information
Saturday, February 27th, 2010
26th – 28th February 2010
Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER)
World Cup Finale in a shortened version
Pigneter (ITA), Lavrentjeva (RUS) and Pigneter/Clara (ITA) win overall World Cup
One run for each category on a shortened track was all that could be held on a severely damaged track after rain and warm weather had played their foul game. The difficult conditions were a challenge for each athlete, but eventually the top favourites were winning again.
Only Patrick Pigneter could keep Germany's Marcus Grausam from winning his second career World Cup race. Pigneter succeeded for the 18th time and tied Gerhard Pilz's 18 wins in the eternal winning lists, but the hero of the moment was definitely Marcus Grausam. "I am always fast here in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, also when we had the German Championships here. I am glad that I could exhibit the good performance in the World Cup, too. Of course it was an advantage to have a lower starting number as the track became worse over the time", said Grausam, who celebrated his first win in Triesenberg (LIE) in the winter of 2003/04. "I do not know why it took me so long to get back on the podium. But now I know that I still have it in me and I know what the hard work in summer is for." Even serial winner Pigneter was happy for the German: "I am glad for him and it is good for the sport when more nations can win. I personally had a great run today. I could feel it on the track already that I was fast. The people here in Garmisch did an awesome job preparing the track and I was sure that the track would be ok, so I attacked fully."
Italy's shooting start Alex Gruber finished third: "I could gain a lot of experience in the European Cup, this has helped me today. I also watch the experienced athletes in my team and they help me. My goal is to perform constantly on a high level and one day I want to become World Champion, but I know that next year is too soon for me."
In the overall ranking, where people were basically fighting for the spots behind Pigneter, Thomas Schopf (AUT) secured second place. Gernot Schwab (AUT) was the luckier in the fight for the third place. Even though Anton Blasbichler (ITA) finished the final race two positions ahead of Schwab, he finished the season one point behind.
In the Women's event Reate Gietl (ITA) still had a tiny chance to win the overall World Cup, but to do so she would have needed to beat her eternal rival Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS). The Russian defended her leading position and managed to win the World Cup Series for the seventh time in her career. "I did not know that Renate had such an excellent run. I just started my own run and focused on myself. I made a mistake in the middle part, but overall it was a good run. My tough competition with Renate throughout the season was really exciting but also very exhausting", said Lavrentjeva and already knows her next goal: "The World Championships in Austria next year is my big goal and I will work hard for that."
Runner up Renate Gietl has different goals: "I am reigning World Champion, so this is not my number one goal. I have been second in the overall world cup so many times, next year I want to move up one step," said Gietl, and: "I am not disappointed about the second place, just a little bit sad, because it was so close. The race between us was always a matter of hundredths, this time I have lost. My chances were small to begin with as it would have needed someone ranked between us. I tried my best and the result was a second place, this is not bad. I think I already lost the world cup in Russia where I finished third in both races. This is a track which I really do not like."
Back on the podium was Melanie Batkowski(AUT): "In the overall ranking my third place was pretty much secured and I had no chance to become any better. So I am satisfied with my result. I had small minor flaws, but altogether it was ok. I was too slow in the finish part, I lost all my speed. But it was a good ending of the season."
In a perfect mix of sliding skills and right choice of equipment, the brothers Christian and Andreas Schopf (AUT) achieved their first and long overdue World Cup win: "We knew that we could be fast under these weather conditions and so we did not try a lot of different things. We just relied on our equipment and skills. The track is steep with narrow turns and this is what we like. So the season found its perfect ending even though the run was not perfect", said Christian, the younger brother whose name can be found in the eternal result books, too. Andreas already won three world cups when he was racing with his cousin Wolfgang. "When we saw our time we actually did not think that this would be good enough to beat Pigneter. That eventually it was good enough is of course fantastic! The Russians were also dangerous, but after Pigneter/Clara were behind us we really speculated with winning. We have been racing together for four years and this is our first win."
Runner up for a change were Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) who had no troubles winning the overall ranking: "It was very difficult today because we had to finish top five to beat the Russians. So we had to attack but without too much risk. We did well, we could not win the race, but that's ok. It was very difficult for me today to switch mentally from single seater to double and build up concentration again. I am very tired now and happy that the season is over, but tonight it is time to party."
With their first season podium finish achieved, Christian Schatz/Gerhard Mühlbacher (AUT) would have been happy with some more races: "We started using a new sled this season. Until now all we did was test and adjust equipment. Now we have everything perfect and the season is over, but at least it is a happy end."
Final Results Women (15):
1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 0:49,01
2. Renate GIETL (ITA), 0:49,07
3. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 0:49,47
4. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 0:49,51
5. Alexandra OBRIST (ITA), 0:49,83
6. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 0:50,22
7. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 0.50,62
8. Michaela MAURER (GER), 0:50,73
9. Katrin MLADEK (AUT), 0:50,73
10. Ludmila ASTRAMOVISH (RUS), 0:51,33
11. Veronika NACHMANN (GER), 0:51,71
12. Nina BUCINEL (SLO), 0:52,07
Final Results Men (30):
1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 0:47,78
2. Marcus GRAUSAM (GER), 0:48,31
3. Alex GRUBER (ITA), 0:48,56
4. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 0:48,63
5. Stefan GRUBER (ITA), 0:48,82
6. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 0:48,87
7. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA), 0:48,90
8. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 0:48,91
9. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 0:48,95
10. Georg MAURER (GER), 0:49,05
10. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 0:49,05
12. Björn KIERSPEL (GER), 0:49,25
Final Results Doubles (11):
1. Christian SCHOPF/Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 0:52,07
2. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA), 0:52,18
3. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 0:52,38
4. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 0:52,72
5. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 0:53,07
6. Bjoern KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER), 0:53,10
7. Florian BREITENBERGER/David MAIR (ITA), 0:53,74
8. Thomas SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOEPF (AUT), 0:53,78
aqotec World Cup Final Ranking (after deduction of drop result)
Women:
1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 470
2. Renate GIETL (ITA) 440
3. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT) 385
4. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA) 315
5. Marlies WAGNER (AUT) 271
6. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA) 205
7. Alexandra OBRIST (ITA) 202
8. Ludmila ASTRAMOVISH (RUS) 184
9. Veronika NACHMANN (GER) 180
10. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT) 175
11.Olga SIDOROVA (RUS) 170
12. Michaela MAURER (GER) 169
Men:
1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 470
2. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT) 321
3. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT) 296
4. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA) 295
5. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 291
6. Rudi RESCH (ITA) 288
7. Stefan GRUBER (ITA) 239
8. Hannes CLARA (ITA) 224
9. Alex GRUBER (ITA) 217
10. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT) 207
11. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT) 183
12. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 168
13. Ziga PAGON (SLO) 156
14. Georg MAURER (GER) 135
14. Marcus GRAUSAM (GER) 135
16. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN) 130
36. John GIBSON (CAN) 40
Doubles:
1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA) 485
2. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 415
3. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 375
4. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 305
5. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT) 290
6. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS) 286
7. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER) 212
8. Thomas KAMMERLANDER/Christoph REGENSBURGER (AUT) 197
Chris Karl
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