Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Season's Greetings From Natural Luge Alberta

Season's Greetings and best wishes for a Happy New Year from the Board of Directors and Executive of the Natural Luge Association of Alberta ("NLA").

Recently formed and incorporated in Alberta, NLA is the Provincial voice for Natural Luge in Alberta, supporting and developing all Provincial Natural Luge Clubs, Athletes, Volunteers and Officials.

2010 will see ALA sanction 3 Provincial competitions, as well as Development Camps on both snow and ice.

Watch for further updates and the introduction of our website early in 2010.

Steve Jepson, President

Natural Luge Association of Alberta



FIL Aqotec Natural Luge World Cup II - Novouralsk Results

Click on the link to the FIL Website Results Page:

http://www.fil-luge.org/filext/result_detail_select.asp?lan=en&currSeason=2009%2F2010&art=NB&cup_type=WC+&event_id_fk=492

In the results box, select the run you wish to view - Men, Women, Doubles

FIL Aqotec Natural Track Luge World Cup I - Novouralsk Results

Click on the link to the FIL Website Results Page:

http://www.fil-luge.org/filext/result_detail_select.asp?lan=en&currSeason=2009%2F2010&art=NB&cup_type=WC+&event_id_fk=491

In the results box, select the run you wish to view - Men, Women, Doubles

Christmas Greetings From Italy!

Hey all you lugenews readers out there!  I've just arrived in Olang for the Christmas break.  Russia was pretty wild.  Temperatures dropped to -40C a couple times which made sliding pretty chilly.  But I hear that it was actually Alberta which was the coldest place on the planet a week or so ago.  That's crazy.  But I bet none of you were hanging out in spandex though, so I've got you beat there!

In case you haven't heard, I placed tenth in both races in Russia!  I was totally pumped about the results.  This marks the first time in Natural Luge history Canada has made it into the top ten!  Hurrah!  The races were pretty intense, especially the second one.  I had to have a really good second run in order to repeat the previous day's results.  Thankfully everything came together for that run and I did.  Hopefully, the momentum will hold and the rest of the season will be as good.  I'll be giving it my all.

Attached is a photo Pilz took of me on my final run of the race.  It's a little blurry, but that's only because I was going 7th place fast! Ha ha!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone.  I'll update again after the World Cup in Umhausen.

Cheers,

Kaj

FIL President Fendt Meeting With Governor Of Sverdlovsk Region

Press Information
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
17th-20th December 2009
Novouralsk/Yekaterinburg (RUS)

FIL President meets Alexander Misharin, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region

A meeting in high political spheres was held in connection with the World Cup in Yekaterinburg. FIL president Josef Fendt met Alexander Misharin, the governor of the Sverdlovsk region, who only recently resumed office. "I had the impression that the governor is truly and seriously committed to our sport and that he appreciated our meeting," said Fendt. "He was well informed about the event, he even knew what we discussed in the press conference the day before. He does not only want to support the sport, he wants to expand the existing structures." Last year a sport school with a focus on luge had been opened in Novouralsk, in future a luge center could be established in this city with its long luge tradition.
For Josef Fendt a cycle had been closed with his visit to Novouralsk. When he participated in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympic Games there were rumours about a secret luge track behind the Urals. "Word was that the Russians had copied the Lake Placid track and were training for the Games here. How they got the blue prints or if the story was even true, nobody knew. But I never would have thought that one day I would actually stand here at this track." 1980 the Russian Vera Zuzulia surprisingly won the Olympic gold medal. "Knowing this story, her win was not all that surprising", said Fendt.
As an expression of the good relations between Fendt and the governor, on Saturday the political leader of the 2000km long and 600km wide Sverdlovsk region actually came to visit the World Cup.

Chris Karl

FIL Media Service

FIL Aqotec Natural Track Luge World Cup - Novouralsk - Day 4

Press Information
Sunday, December 20th, 2009

17th-20th December 2009
Novouralsk/Yekaterinburg (RUS)


First and second place for Russia


The cheers for the Russian win was heard everywhere along the track from the finish line up to the start. It looked like Russia would have to settle for the places two and three when the leading double with Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) crashed into the boards. "We have to see what the reason was, it looks like there was a problem with the runners", said Florian Clara, who as well as Pigneter did not suffer any injuries.
The lucky winners were Russia's Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev who will leave Novouralsk with a second place (first World Cup) and a win. "That's sport, everybody can crash, for us the result is very good, but the main focus is still the European Championship", said Lazarev and adds that they could have done better in today's race: "After the sixth turn we were braking too much, we could have gone faster there."
Runner up was the second Russian double, Aleksander Egorov/Petr Popov, who achieved their sixth career podium finish, but a second place for the first time. Very pleased were Andrzej Laszczak/Damian Waniczek (POL) who finished third: "We already thought that we would be fourth once again, a place we have had so many times. Now we are happy about the podium, of course it's bad luck for Patrick Pigneter."
The aqotec World Cup will be continued January 8-10, 2010 in Umhausen (AUT).


Final Results Doubles (10):

1. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:05,07(2), 1:04,78(1), 2.09,85
2. Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV (RUS), 1:05,59(3), 1:04,90(2), 2:10,49
3. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:06,08(4), 1:05,23(3), 2:11,31
4. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:06,16(5), 1:05,87(5), 2:12,03
5. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 1:06,36(6), 1:05,86(4), 2:12,22
6. Thomas KAMMERLANDER/Christoph REGENSBURGER (AUT), 1:06,88(7), 1.07,00(6), 2:13,88


World Cup Standings (2/6):

1. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 185
2. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS) 155
3. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 120
3. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 120
5. Thomas KAMMERLANDER/Christoph REGENSBURGER (AUT) 105
6. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT) 101
7. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA) 100
8. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER) 81




Chris Karl

FIL Aquotec Natural Track Luge World Cup - Day 3

Press Information
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
17th-20th December 2009
Novouralsk/Yekaterinburg (RUS) II

Thomas Schopf and Melanie Batkowski win for Austria

With a spectacular second run rookie Thomas Schopf (AUT) shot himself from the third intermediate rank to the second win within 24 hours. "Before I went into the second run, I told myself: Thomas, give it all, you can do it! I knew that I could do better than in the first run, as I have had some mistakes here and there, but on this track nobody made it all the way down without mistakes." Runner up – again – was Patrick Pigneter (ITA) who is actually happy about the new challenger: "Recently I have had some motivational problems. I have won the overall World Cup four consecutive times and I was somehow missing the last bit of motivation to push myself. Now there is a new challenge and I am looking forward to the season." Lucky third was Thomas Kammerlander (AUT), who achieved his second podium finish in his career. Gernot Schwab (AUT) as Anton Blasbichler (ITA) had been ranked before him after the first run, but had problems in their second runs. "I am happy about the result", said Kammerlander, "last year I did not even finish within the top ten. This is a really difficult track here."
With "two fairly good runs" Melanie Batkowski upset her competitors and fulfilled yesterday's prophecy that she would do a little bit better today than yesterday. "Both runs were not perfect, but I just focussed on myself and saw to hit the braking points at the best moment." Her challengers had to submit to bigger mistakes, Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) had lost the race in the first run already: "I almost crashed in the first run, so I knew that I could not win any more. My goal was to move from the third place to the second and I am happy that I succeeded." Less happy was Renate Gietl (ITA) with her fifth consecutive third place: "I wanted to move up one rank, but I failed. Melanie and Katharina were too strong today."
Tomorrow, Sunday, the double seater´s event will be held. After that the aqotec World Cup will be continued in Umhausen (AUT) Jan 8-10 with the 100th World Cup race in the World Cup history.
Final Results Women (11):
1. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:02,34(1), 1:02,35(1), 2:04,69
2. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:03,16(3), 1:02,39(2), 2:05,55
3. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:03,02(2), 1:03,16(3), 2:06,18
4. Evelyn LANTHALER (ITA), 1:03,83(5), 1:03,41(4), 2:07,24
5. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:03,29(4), 1:04,01(5), 2:07,30
6. Olga SIDOROVA (RUS), 1:04,16(6), 1:04,29(6), 2:08,45
7. Ludmilla ASTRAMOVISH (RUS), 2:08,81
8. Svetlana ZHARAVINA (RUS), 2:10,36
9. Veronika NACHMANN (GER), 2:11,14
10. Nina BUCINEL (SLO), 2:11,25
11. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 2:16,09
Final Results Men (31):
1. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:00,81(3), 1:00,60(1), 2:01,41
2. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:00,76(1), 1:00,98(2), 2:01,74
3. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:01,12(5), 1:01,12(3), 2:02,24
4. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1:00,88(4), 1:01,46(4), 2:02,34
5. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:00,80(2), 1:01,56(5), 2:02,36
6. Stefan GRUBER (ITA), 1:01,44(6), 1:01,97(8), 2:03,41
7. Rudi RESCH (ITA), 1:01,81(10), 1:01,78(6), 2:03,59
8. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:01,66(7), 1:02,16(9), 2:03,82
9. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 1:01,72(9), 1:02,21(10), 2:03,93
10. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN), 1:02,19(12), 1:01,80(7), 2:03,99
World Cup Standings (2/6):
Women:
1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 185 points
1. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT) 185
3. Renate GIETL (ITA) 140
4. Marlies WAGNER (AUT) 115
4. Evelyn LANTHALER (ITA) 115
6. Olga SIDOROVA (RUS) 96
7. Nina BUCINEL (SLO) 78
7. Veronika NACHMANN (GER) 78
9. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT) 68
10. Regina GILVANOVA (RUS) 50
Men:
1. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT) 200 points
2. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 170
3. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT) 130
4. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 125
5. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA) 115
6. Stefan GRUBER (ITA) 100
7. Rudi RESCH (ITA) 88
8. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT) 78
9. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 76
10. Ziga PAGON (SLO) 74
11. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN) 72
12. Florian CLARA (ITA) 64
13. Jury TALYKH (RUS) 57
14. Damian WANICZEK (POL) 55

Chris Karl

FIL Media Service

FIL Aquotec Natural Track Luge World Cup - Day 2

Press Information

Friday, December 18th, 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 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 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 8th and Ziga Pagon on the 7th 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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FIL Aqotec Natrual Track Luge World Cup - Day 1

Press Information

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

 

17th-20th December 2009

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), 1:06,33(4), 1:06,39(5), 2:12,72

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



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FIL Aqotec World Cup 1- Day 1


Tuesday, March 17, 2009

AB Championships Get Good Local Press Coverage

The Alberta Natural Track Championships were held in Grande Prairie this past weekend and the local newspaper, The Daily Herald Tribune has a great feature story on the event:

"It was a fitting end to the Alberta Luge Championships.

John Gibson was hoisted on the shoulders and carried to the podium by fellow national team members Kaj Johnson and Greg Jones.

It wasn’t just because Gibson had managed to beat his teammates on his way to gold in the senior men’s division. The show of appreciation was also because Gibson had organized the tournament, giving the group of 16 natural luge racers a rare chance to compete against each other.

.... Full Story Here"


Congratulations to John, both on his win and on putting the event together on short notice!

Here are the times from all the runs:

Training





Alberta Championships

Monday, February 16, 2009

Final Results - World Championships 2009

Team Canada reports on the end of the World Championships.

Two photo finishes decided both the women's and men's World Championships here in Passeier, Italy today.  Renate Gietl from Italy won her crown by merely three hundredths in front of Russia's Ekaterina Lavrentjeva.  In the men's race it was by four hundredths that Patrick Pigneter clinched his title narrowly from the young Thomas Kammerlander who finished in second.  Renate Kasslatter and Thomas Schopf won the bronze medals in the women's and men's categories respectivley.

As for the Canadian boys, John Gibson had a strong race and fought off many contenders to maintain a respectful top-20 finish.  Greg was fighting an injury he sustained during the doubles race but impressed everyone by placing 23rd despite his obvious pain.  Kaj unfortunately was unable to solve his equipment issues before the end of the race and finished in 25th position.

This morning the guys sucured their final visa arrangments and are off to Russia tomorrow for the final two World Cup races.  In the overall standings Greg is currently in 35th place, John is in 27th, and Kaj is in 15th.  Wish them luck and think fast as they make their final push of the 2008/2009 season.

All for now,

The Canadian Team

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Race Day One - World Championships 2009

New doubles World Champions were crowned to day in the Valley of Passeier.  Patrick Pigneter and Florian Clara made their home crowd proud by dominating the field by eight tenths to steal the show.  The young Schopf brothers took the silver with a solid performance and coming in third were the veteran Polish team who appear to be on a comeback streak.  

As for the Canadians, Greg and Kaj had a solid first run leaving them in 11th position for the second.  They pushed it, and the boards answered.  However, despite hitting hard in a few locations on the run, they managed to hold their placing and are quite proud.  

The singles race also began today and will conclude tomorrow.  Even with a soar leg, Greg had his best time on this track and sits in 22nd.  John had a good start to his race and is sitting in 18th at the moment.  And struggling with his equipment, Kaj is currently in 24th.

Included are a photo of Kaj and Greg on their doubles run, and Greg in one of his singles training runs.

All for now,

The Canadian Team

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

30th European Junior Championships in Lungiarue (ITA), Feb 6th to 8th, 2009


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



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Evelin Lanthaler (ITA)

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Medalists women's singles

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Thomas Schopf (AUT)

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Medalists doubles

30th European Junior Championships in Lungiarue (ITA), Feb 6th to 8th, 2009


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

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

2009 Natural Track World Cup #4 Deutschnofen, Italy

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

Monday, February 2, 2009

2009 FIL PEWO World Cup Standings (4/6 Races)

The FIL PEWO World Cup Standings as of Sunday February 1st, 2009:

Women:
1. Renate GIETL (ITA)_ Points Todate 370
2. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS)_ Points Todate 340
3. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT)_ Points Todate 285
4. Evelyn LANTHALER (ITA)_ Points Todate 250
5. Renate KASSLATTER (ITA)_ Points Todate 221
6. Julia VETLOVA (RUS)_ Points Todate 192
6. Marlies WAGNER (AUT)_ Points Todate 192
8. Tamara SCHWARZ (ITA)_ Points Todate 173
9. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT)_ Points Todate 148
10. Katrin MLADEK (AUT)_ Points Todate 137


Men:
1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA)_ Points Todate 331
2. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT)_ Points Todate 271
3. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT)_ Points Todate 262
4. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT)_ Points Todate 224
5. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT)_ Points Todate 222
6. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT)_ Points Todate 220
7. Hannes CLARA (ITA)_ Points Todate 211
8. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA)_ Points Todate 199
9. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA)_ Points Todate 151
10. Stefan GRUBER (ITA)_ Points Todate 148
15. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN)_ Points Todate 100
27. John GIBSON (CAN)_ Points Todate 56
35. Greg JONES (CAN)_ Points Todate 34

Doubles:
1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA) _ Points Todate 370
2. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS)_ Points Todate 345
3. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT)_ Points Todate 265
4. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL)_ Points Todate 236
5. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT)_ Points Todate 225
6. Thomas WEISS/Andreas LEITER (ITA)_ Points Todate 216
7. Aleksandr EGEROV/Aleksandr POPOV (RUS)_ Points Todate 203
8. Stanislav KOVSHIK/Roman MOLVISTOV (RUS)_ Points Todate 156
12. Kaj JOHNSON/Greg JONES (CAN)_ Points Todate 70

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Canadians in Action - Photos from Deutschnofen

Chris Karl with the FIL has come through again and provided us with some photos of team canada in action at the just completed World Cup Event in Deutschnhofen.

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.


I didn't get a picture of John but his performance this weekend also saw him slip two place in the World Cup standings, from 25th to 27th.

On the positive side it looks like each of the Canadians improved his times over the course of the event, having a faster time in their second run than they did in their first. For example, John went from 0:58.03 in the first run to 0:56.74 in his second.