Press Information
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 28th 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
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),
5. Evelyn LANTHALER (ITA),
6.
7. Olga SIDOROVA (RUS),
8. Nina BUCINEL (SLO),
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.
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
Press Information
Novouralsk/Yekaterinburg (RUS)
Pigneter/Clara (ITA) first winners in the new season
With two excellent runs Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) started into the new season just like they had ended the last: with a win, the 12th in their career. "These were the first flawless runs we managed to achieve in this winter" said Pigneter after the race which was held at temperatures below -20C. "We have not had too many runs on ice this winter, so we were actually surprised that it went so well. Yesterday in the training runs it did not look like that." A convenient margin of almost half a second gave them room for some tactical variations: "We laid a good basis in the first run, so we could go for a safety run in the second", said Clara.
Less satisfied were the Russians who finished second and third. "For all Russian athletes the European Championships are the biggest goal of the season. For the first race in the winter today's result was not bad, but we can and have to do better. Today we lost time in the upper part in the first run and than in the finish part in the second run," said Ivan Lazarev.
The races will be continued tomorrow, Friday, with the men's and
Final results Doubles:
1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA), 1:04,77(1), 1:0,78(1), 2:09,55
2. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:05,20(2), 1:05,19(2), 2:10,39
3. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS), 1:06,02(3), 1:05,76/3), 2:11,78
4. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT),
5. Thomas KAMMERLANDER/Christoph REGENSBURGER (AUT), 1:06,51(5), 1:06,37(4), 2:12,88
6. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:06,64(6), 1:06,50(6), 2:13,14
World Cup Standings (1/6):
1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA) 100 points
2. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 85
3. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS) 70
4. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 60
5. Thomas KAMMERLANDER/Christoph REGENSBURGER (AUT) 55
6. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 50
7. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT) 46
8. Pavel SILIN/Iwan RODIN (RUS) 42
9. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER) 39
10. Chavdar ARSOV/Petar SAVOR (BUL) 36
Chris Karl
FIL Media Service
| Gold Medals for Thomas Schopf (AUT), Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) and Kammerlander/Regensburger (AUT) After one day off due to the heavy snowfalls, the European Junior Championships have been held in one day and with only two runs for the single seater events. Austria´s rookie Thomas Schopf, who already drew attention with three World Cup podiums, is the new European Junior Champion. Local hero Hannes Clara had to settle for silver. Schopf was in the lead after the first run already and his tactics for the second run were quite simple: "I had some mistakes in my first run, so I thought without these mistakes the time would be fast enough to win the race and I tried not to repeat the mistakes." The result proved him right. Hannes Clara was ranked third after the first run and managed to improve his result to win the silver medal. "I am very happy about the result. In my first run I had a problem in the upper part, in the second run I had a mistake at the end, so I am very satisfied that eventually I finished second." Thomas Kammerlander took the bronze medal. After having won two consecutive European titles in 2005 and 2007, Melanie Batkowski (AUT) had been beaten in her last start as a junior. She expressed her respect for the new Champion Evelin Lanthaler: "She had two great runs, I would not have been able to match her times here. I already have two titles, she has deserved hers today." Evelin Lanthaler upset her competitors with two excellent run-times. "I really had a great race today", she said. She had not expected to win the race, even though had hoped for a medal: "I did not have much chance to practise here, but I knew that I was in pretty good shape. Now and then I achieved training times close to Renate Gietl." Gietl has won the first three World Cup races of the season and is one of the top medal contenders for next week´s World Championships in Moos/Passeier – which is exactly where Evelin Lanthaler comes from. With her newly won title she will definitely be good for a medal on her home track. The bronze medal took Alexandra Obrist (ITA). In the doubleseater´s event Thomas Kammerlander/Christoph Regensburger (AUT) could benefit from their World Cup experience and won the junior title. Their Austrian team-mates Rupert Brüggler/Tobias Angerer finished second. Poland´s Damian Fender/Dawid Jachnicki took the bronze medal and will try to follow their team-mates traces: with ten World Cup wins Andrzej Laszczak/Damian Waniczek are the currently most successful still active double in the World Cup. Please click here to view results. All photos (c) Hermann Sobe |
Evelin Lanthaler (ITA)
Medalists women's singles
Thomas Schopf (AUT)
Medalists doubles |
| European Junior Championships with World Cup Stars Once again the luge community will come to the Italian mountains to the tiny village with the three names: Lungiarue is the original ladinic version, Longirú the Italian and Campill the German name. But while at past occasions World Cup races had been held in Lungiarue, this time the junior racers will meet to fight for the titles of the European Champion. Two years ago in St. Sebastian (AUT) Melanie Batkowski (AUT), Patrick Pigneter (ITA) and Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) had won the titles. Only Melanie Batkowski is young enough (she will turn 20 during the current season) to compete once again and have a go at trying to defend her title. Next to Batkowski, there is also Evelyn Lanthaler (ITA) who already has earned her merits in the World Cup. Just one week ago in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente Lanthaler could celebrate her first podium finish in a World Cup when she finished second. In the men´s event Hannes Clara is the local hero from Longiarue. He, too, is an experiences World Cup athlete, so far he has achieved four top-three results, being runner up once and three times third. His toughest competitor might be Thomas Schopf (AUT) who has been the World Cup rookie of this season. He has finished on the podium in each single race so far, something no other athlete has managed – not even Italy´s World Cup leader Patrick Pigneter. Just like Hannes Clara, Thomas Schopf has yet to win a race, but he finished second once and two times third. The double seater´s event lacks clear contenders as all the top athletes in the World Cup are no longer juniors. So this event will be the opportunity for some newcomers to make their names familiar. Training runs will be held on Friday, the competition will start on Saturday. Like in all Championships – as opposed to the World Cup – there will be three runs for the singe seaters. Track Info: Length: 1147m Elevation of start: 1632m above sea level Elevation of finish: 1500m Difference: 132m Maximum Descent: 36% Minimum Descent: 0,5%
|  Melanie Batkowski (AUT)  Hannes Clara (ITA) Photos (c) Hermann Sobe |
Here is Team Canada's recap from the latest World Cup.
This track was brand new for all three of us. Luckily we had had one day of training here two weeks ago. This provided us with some familiarity upon entering the race. On the doubles front, Greg and Kaj had found some fantastic training in Campil, Italy. They spent the week becoming more comfortable with higher speeds and by the end were super excited about how fast they were now going.
As per usual, the doubles were featured first on Saturday with the women and men to follow. Having all the competition runs on the same day meant that Greg and Kaj would have a full day with five runs in total. They were very happy with their doubles performance and found that they were already showing signs of competitiveness by beating their Ukrainian buddies and finishing in 10th place.
Following the doubles race was the singles event. This took place sans sun under the questionable illumination of the track lights. In some sections of the track additional lighting had been added in an attempt to rid shadowy sections. The additional lights were of a different colour and still failed to correct all of the track's shadows. This caused the track to be lit in three different ways. There could be a shadowy section, followed by a yellow corner, followed by a white straight for example. This made it extremely difficult to pick out the different aspects of the track needed for precise driving that are normally consistent under day light or an adequate lighting system. And for a terrifying moment, the entire field held their breath when a section of straight away lighting blacked out and the back up system failed to instantly correct the problem. Much to every one's relief, the athlete was able to brake safely to a stop and given a re-run.
As for our results, Greg was not overly pleased with his 29th place but found a victory in being able to cope with the terrible lighting conditions despite his colour blindness. A mistake in a critical corner during John's first run pushed him down to 27th position. He did however find redemption in the night with a much better second run and moved up two positions into 25th place. Kaj was disappointed with his performance but found solace in his 20th position knowing that his top 20 streak was maintained.
We are now in the Passeier Valley in Italy where the World Championships are going to be held in two weeks. We are fortunate enough to have a full three days of training here before moving on. During next week's break we are looking forward to going "home" to Olang and seeing familiar faces and a familiar track.
All for now,
The Canadian Natural Luge Team
Kaj's performance earned him 21 World Cup points but that still dropped him two places in the over all standings, from 13th to 15th. 
Greg earned 12 World Cup points to maintain his 35th place position. 
In just their second event of the year Kaj and Greg earned 36 World Cup points to maintain their 12th place position in the doubles standings. 
