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
