FIL World Junior Championships Natural Track Luge - Deutschnofen (ITA) - Day 2

FIL World Junior Championships

Natural Track Luge

 

 

Press Information

Sunday, January 31^th, 2010

 

7^th World Junior Championships in

Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente (ITA), Jan 29^th -31^st, 2010

 

 

Favorites meet expectations: Gold for Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) and Hannes Clara (ITA)

 

 

 

"The pressure that I put on myself was the worst. Everybody expected me to win here" said the new Junior World Champion after a stressful weekend. "I was extremely nervous before the first run, then there was the accident of the Bulgarian girl and the race was interrupted for a long time and I came down from my anxiety level. But I did not want to be too calm, however, I managed a perfect first run", explained Lanthaler who took the lead in yesterday's first run and kept her position in today's second and third runs. "The gap was not really huge, but enough to allow a safety run in the second, then I attacked once again in the third run", she said. She won't have the chance for a big party: "Tomorrow we are going to Latzfons already to start practise for the next World Cup".

With Alexandra Obrist as the runner up, and Andrea Voetter as the bronze medalist, the Italian sweep was complete. "My goal was to give my best and I won a medal.  I wanted to lay a good basis in my first run and this tactic worked out well", said silver medallist Obrist, a student from Brixen/Bressanone, who could gain some experience in occasional world cup starts.  With her silver medal she certainly recommended herself for further nominations.  Fellow Italian Andrea Voetter does not even think that far ahead: "I am only 14, all I wanted today was to show that youngsters like me can also perform really well, even at that age. I did not do well in the training runs, but it is only the race which counts", she said. She attends the highschool for sports in Mals which has been the birthplace of many South Tyrolian sports stars.

 

In the Men's event it was pretty clear after one run that there would be a strong competition between the three athletes who are competing on senior level already. Eventually Hannes Clara was the one to win the title. "I knew that it would be very, very difficult to win here. Thomas Kammerlander is in great shape, Alex and florian Gruber both demonstrated in the training runs that they can be really fast here. I knew from my world cup win in Latsch that I am in good shape myself and that my equipment suits me well and I gave everything today. I am totally happy about my first World Champion title", said Clara.

Silver medalist Alex Gruber returned the compliment: "I knew that Hannes would be my strongest opponent here, I never saw myself as the favourite.  I have been practicing a lot, and this medal is the result of hard work", said Gruber, who is said to be the up and coming new talent.  "I work out every day and I have got a feeling to take curves very smoothly, but talent is not enough, it is a basis to build on."  Looking back on his three runs he said: "In a way I do and do not like the track. I always lost time in the last turn, I could have done better there.  But I liked the turns in the top part of the track and achieved very fast times there, so it the end it was even again."

Not fully satisfied but not upset either was bronze medallist Thomas Kammerlander: "The other two were faster. Hannes was not to beat here and Alex had a fantastic third run, so I guess I have to be satisfied."

 

 

Junior Women (17):

 

1. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 0:54,46(1), 0:55,19(1), 0:54,80(1), 2:44,45

2. Alexandra OBRIST (ITA), 0:55,00 (2), 0:55,68(2), 0:55,53(2), 2:46,21

3. Andrea VÖTTER (ITA), 0:55,92(3), 0:56,40(3), 0:56,15(3), 2:48,47

4, Nina BUCINEL (SLO), 0:57,43(4), 0:57,09(7), 0:57,28(5), 2:51,80

5. Maria KAMAREVTSEVA (RUS), 0:57,50(6), 0:57,08(6), 0:57,68(8), 2:52,26

6. Regina GILVANOVA (RUS), 0:57,91(9), 0:57,00(4), 0:57,62(7), 2:52,53

7. Christina GÖTSCHL (AUT), 0:57,64(7), 0:57,67(9), 57,58(6), 2:52,89

8. Natalia WANICZEK (POL), 0:57,45(5), 0:57,66(8), 0:58,05(10), 2:53,16

 

 

Juniors Men (31):

 

1. Hannes CLARA (ITA), 0:53,55(1), 0:53,60(1), 0:53,76(1), 2:40,91

2. Alex GRUBER (ITA), 0:53,71(3), 0:53,88(2), 0:54.03(2), 2:41,62

3. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 0:53,69(2), 0:53,95(3), 0:54,23(3), 2:41,87

4. Simon RUNGGER (ITA), 0:54,70(5), 0:54,83(6), 0:54,71(4), 2:44,24

5. Simon KAINZWALDNER (ITA), 0:54,66(4), 0:54,78(5), 0:55,08(7), 2:44,52

6. Patrick SALCHER (AUT), 0:55,00(6), 0:55,00(8), 0:55,45(11), 2:45,45

7. Lukasz GORYL (POL), 0:55,84(11), 0:54,67(4), 0:55,10(8), 2:45,61

8. Luka SVAB (SLO), 0:55,70(10), 0:55,07(9), 0:55,28(9), 2:46,05

9. Christoph REGENSBURGER (AUT), 0:56,01(12), 0:54,85(7), 0:55,35(10), 2:46,21

10. Dominik HOLZKNECHT (AUT), 0:55,17(7), 0:55,44(11), 0:56,44(15), 2:47,05

 

 

The complete results can be found at www.fil-luge.org under results or events

 

 

 

Chris Karl

FIL Media Service

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FIL World Junior Championships Natural Track Luge - Deutschnofen (ITA) - Day 1

FIL World Junior Championships

Natural Track Luge

 

 

Press Information

Saturday, January 30^th, 2010

 

7^th World Junior Championships in

Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente (ITA), Jan 29^th -31^st, 2010

 

 

Gold and Silver for Austria, Bronze for Russia

 

 

With two fastest runs, the World Cup experienced double Thomas Kammerlander/Christoph Regensburger claimed the gold medal in the under-20-category on the Pfoeslriep track in Nova Ponente in Italy. Thomas Kammerlander knows how to evaluate this medal: "It is wonderful to celebrate such a success in the junior category, but it cannot be compared to the level in the adult's category." He should know as in the current season he managed to achieve podium results in the World Cup already. He will give his last junior performance in tomorrow's singles' race as he will celebrate his 20^th birthday on February 13^th. He does not know yet what the future will bring for him: "I was in the military, in the special group for athletes, but I could not stay because there are only nine assigned posts for luge in Innsbruck and they are all taken by artificial track athletes. So I am unemployed now and after the season I will see what I will do." His 16-year-old double partner Christoph Regensburger is a little bit better off: "I am a trainee as a brick layer and for the next three years I have a job which gives me enough time for training."

The twins, Dominik and Dieter Apolloner, could improve their result from a third place two years ago to winning the silver medal in today's race.  Looking back at the past two years the brothers agree: "We are better in shape than two years ago, we have practised a lot, swimming and running in summer, also some strength training, but we get a lot of this in our jobs." Dominik works as a brick layer, Dieter as a plumber. "We have had great support from our trainers and next year we want to try our luck in the World Cup. A huge step forward was when we changed our equipment, as the beginning of the season we changed to sams sleds", said the brothers. This season they are competing in the IC-Cup.

The bronze medal went to Russia's Pavel Silin/Ivan Rodin who finished more than one second behind the winners.

 

 

Final Results Junior Doubles:

 

1. Thomas KAMMERLANDER/Christoph REGENSBURGER (AUT), 0:58,55(1), 0:58,37(1), 1:56,92

2. Dominik APOLLONER/Dieter APOLLONER (AUT), 0:58,60(2), 0:58,89(3), 1:57,49

3. Pavel SILIN/Ivan RODIN (RUS), 0:59,27(3), 0:58,77(2), 1:58,04

4. Rupert BRÜGGLER/Tobias ANGERER (AUT), 0:59,66(4), 0:59,70(4), 1:59,36

5. Stanislav KOVSHIK/Ilya TARASOV (RUS), 0:59,85(5), 0:59,72(5), 1:59,57

6. Maxim TSVETKOV/Denis MOISEEV (RUS), 1:00,29(6), 0:59,72(5), 2:00,01

 

 

 

Chris Karl

FIL Media Service

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FIL World Junior Championships Natural Track Luge - Deutschnofen (ITA) - Preview

FIL World Junior Championships

Natural Track Luge

Press Information

Thursday, January 28^th, 2010

7^th World Junior Championships in

Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente (ITA), Jan 29^th -31^st, 2010

Medals for under 20 athletes

Every two years the athletes aged under 20 are competing for medals in the World Junior Championships. This year’s event, the seventh edition so far, will be held in Nova Ponente/Deutschnofen (ITA). Just in time two junior racers managed to achieve promising results in the adult class, Hannes Clara (ITA) and Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) will be strong contenders for the gold medals in their respective races.

18-year-old Evelin Lanthaler demonstrated her skills by winning the silver medal in the European Championships and proved one week later with a third place in the World Cup that her medal was not won on a lucky day. Hannes Clara can look back to several podium finishes, but managed to win his first World Cup just last week by defeating superstar Patrick Pigneter. Clara’s strongest competitor in the junior Championships could come from his own teammate. Alex Gruber has recommended himself with some first places in training runs and by winning the Italian Championships.

The large Russian team – always performing best in championships – might be good for the one or the other surprise. In the seniors’ category Russia has become one of the strongest nations, now it will be seen if they can play a major role in the eternal fight between Austria’s and Italy’s juniors.

In the double’s category no juniors have managed to succeed in FIL World Cup competition.

Everything remains open and this might be a chance for the up and coming nations like Ukraine or Bulgaria. Germany is expected to surprise one day soon since the two Austrian former world class athletes Gerhard Pilz and Herbert Koegl are in charge of the German team now.

In World as well as European Championships the singles have to complete three runs, whereas doubles’ events are held in two runs, just like the World Cup.

The medallists and top-6 of the 2008 Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER) World Championships were:

Junior Men:

1. Christian SCHWARZ (ITA)

2. Hannes CLARA (ITA)

3. Dominik WAGNER (AUT)

4. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT)

5. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT)

6. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT)

Junior Women:

1. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT)

2. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA)

3. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA)

4. Katrin MLADEK (AUT)

5. Alexandra OBRIST (ITA)

6. Jasmin GOEGELE (ITA)

Junior Doubles:

1. Thomas WEISS/Andreas LEITER (ITA)

2. Hannes CLARA/Florian CLARA (ITA)

3. Dominik APOLLONER/Dieter APOLLONER (AUT)

4. Rupert BRÜGGLER/Dominik HOLZKNECHT (AUT)

5. Pavel SILIN/Ivan RODIN (RUS)

6. Thomas KAMMERLANDER/Christof REGENSBURGER (AUT)

Track Info „Pfoeslriep“:

Start Elevation: 1505m

Finish Elevation: 1384m

Difference: 121m

Length of Track: 871m

Max Descent: 16%

Min Descent: 5%

Average Descent: 13%

Program:

Friday, 29.01.2010:

9.00am: 1^st Training Run Men and Women

11.30am: 2^nd Training Run Men and Women

1.00pm: 1^st Training Run doubles

2.00pm: 2^nd training run doubles

7.00pm: Opening Ceremony

Saturday, 30.01.2010:

9:30am: 1st Competition Run Doubles

11:00am: 2nd Competition Run Doubles

afterward - Flower Ceremony

1:00pm: 1st Competition Run Women and Men

Sunday, 31.01.2010:

9.30am: 2^nd Competition Run Women and Men

11.30am: 3^rd Competition Run Women and Men

afterward - Flower Ceremony

1:30pm: Medal Ceremony

Chris Karl

FIL Media Service

FIL Aqotec Wrld Cup Natural Track Luge - Latsch day 2

 

FIL aqotec WORLD CUP

NATURAL TRACK LUGE

 

Press Information

Sunday, January 24^th, 2010

 

22^nd – 24^th January 2010

Latsch/Laces (ITA)

 

First World Cup Win for Hannes Clara (ITA), First Season Win for Renate Gietl (ITA)

Her 12th career win but the first in this season celebrated Renate Gietl (ITA) in today's race in Laces/Latsch. The basis was laid by a great first run, but she knew very well that serial winner Ekatharina Lavrentjeva being ranked fourth after the first run, would attack and try to claim back the number one spot. "When I heard at the start that Ekatharina had such a great second run and the speaker announced that she would be hard to beat, I actually became a bit nervous. But I saw in the first run what I can deliver here and in spite of my leading margin from the first run, I took full risk. I knew I had to give it all." Her effort was rewarded with another fastest runtime. "I am proud of my two runs and the time difference with which I have won."

 

With an almost perfect second run Ekatharina Lavrentjeva managed to claim a spot on the podium. "Yesterday I had troubles, my equipment was not perfect and I made some mistakes, but today there was only one turn which I maybe could have managed better."

 

Third became Evelin Lanthaler, the 18-year-old Italian, who already raised attention with her silver medal in the European Championships last week. "I am young and can compete here without any pressure. It is fantastic that I can actually fight for the spots on the podium. Today it was all very tight and my goal was to keep my third place from the first run and I succeeded", said Lanthaler who defeated Austria's Melanie Batkowski by one hundredth of a second.

 

Michaela Maurer (GER) finished seventh and achieved her best career result: "I already did very well in the training runs, beating my personal best times, in the race I managed to do even better, I am racing in an area now where I have never been before. Too bad that I lost one place in the second run, but I screwed up one turn and lost all the speed there. Overall I am very satisfied", she said.

 

Just like in the women's race also in the men's event a new face was seen on top of the podium. Hannes Clara (ITA) managed to win his first World Cup race ever: "I am so happy", said the rookie from South Tyrol, "I was really surprised about my fantastic time in the first run, but I really had an excellent run. In the training runs I was still trying to find the best adjustment for all my equipment, but for the race it was all perfect." For the first time in his still young career he had to start a second run as the leader: "This was really new for me and I was incredibly nervous". As a student he did not have a lot of time for practise before the season started, so he did not even join the team for the trip to Russia where the first two races were held. "For me each additional race is more practise and I think that I am getting better in shape the longer the season lasts", said Clara, very humbly as in his two World Cup starts this season he finished second and first.

 

Italian athlete, Rudi Resch achieved his first podium finish in his career.  He already had the reputation of only having one good run per race. "I always made some major mistake somewhere and today I finally had two good runs. This is a completely new feeling. It was really strange when at the start there were fewer and fewer starters, I became quite nervous. This was a terrific day for me."

 

Patrick Pigneter (ITA) was beaten by two fellow Italians and finished third for the only second time in his World Cup career. "They have been faster because they were better, not because I made mistakes", praised Pigneter his colleagues' performances. "After the last two races I thought I was in my own league, but once again I had to realize that you cannot even let go a little bit. But I am happy especially for Rudi Resch, who has been fourth or fifth so many times."

 

 

Final Results Women (20):

 

1. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:03,82(1), 1:03,88(1), 2:07,70

2. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:04,60(4), 1:03,99(2), 2:08,59

3. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 1:04,51(3), 1:04,75(3), 2:09,26

4. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:04,44(2), 1:04,83(4), 2:09,27

5. Alexandra OBRIST (ITA), 1:05,67(5), 1:05,42(5), 2:11,09

6. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:05,98(7), 1:05,69(6), 2:11,67

7. Michaela MAURER (GER), 1:05,82(6), 1:06,30(8), 2:12,12

8. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:06,73 (8), 1:05,73(7), 2:12,46

9. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:07,16(10), 1:06,48(9), 2:13,64

10. Veronika NACHMANN (GER), 1:06,80(9), 1:07,05(10), 2:13,85

 

 

Final Results Men (40):

 

1. Hannes CLARA (ITA), 1:02,58(1), 1:02,73(1), 2:05,31

2. Rudi RESCH (ITA), 1:02,68(2), 1:02,79(2), 2:05,47

3. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:02,74(3), 1:02,79(2), 2:05,53

4. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:03,15(4), 1:03,01(5), 2:06,16

5. Alex GRUBER (ITA), 1:03,38(7), 1:02,94(4), 2:06,32

6. Stefan GRUBER (ITA), 1:03,23(5), 1:03,44(8), 2:06,67

7. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1:03,36(6), 1:03,36(6), 2:06,68

8. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:03,39(8), 1:03,42(7), 2:06,81

9. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:03,41(9), 1:03,76(9), 2:07,17

10. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:03,57(10), 1:04,13(11), 2:07,70

13. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN), 1:04,70(15), 1:04,18(12), 2:08,88

14. Georg MAURER (GER), 1:04,25(13), 1:04,70(14), 2:08,95

18. John Gibson (CAN), 1:05.59(18), 1:05.50(18), 2:11.09

 

 

 

World Cup Standings (4/6):

 

Women:

 

1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS)        370

2. Renate GIETL (ITA)                                325

3. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT)                  315

4. Evelyn LANTHALER (ITA)                      240

5. Marlies WAGNER (AUT)                        217

6. Olga SIDOROVA (RUS)                         158

7. Veronika NACHMANN (GER)                146

8. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT)                 143

9. Ludmila ASTRAMOVISH (RUS)             114

10. Nina BUCINEL (SLO)                           106

13. Michaela MAURER (GER)                     88

 

Men:

 

1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA)                        340

2. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT)                        296

3. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT)        234

4. Rudi RESCH (ITA)                                  228

5. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA)                   211

6. Hannes CLARA (ITA)                             185

7. Stefan GRUBER (ITA)                            180

8. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT)                         176

9. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT)          152

10. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN)                           128

17. Björn KIERSPEL (GER)                          92

 

 

 

Chris Karl

FIL Media Service

 

http://www.fil-luge.org/filext/result_detail_select.asp?lan=en&currSeason=2009%2F2010&art=NB&cup_type=WC+&event_id_fk=494

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Canadian Update From the 4th World Cup in Latsch, Italy

Greetings readers. Kaj and John here corresponding from Latsch,
Italy. Another race down and one more to go. John was welcomed into
the World Cup with open arms and laid down a stellar opening
performance. Kaj finally made peace with the Latsch track gods and
had his first good race there to date. John in 18th, Kaj in 13th.

For John, consistency was the name of the day and had two very close
runs (less than a tenth of a second apart). A strong debut
performance for the season; look for John to improve upon this result
in the next race in Latzfons.

Kaj wishes that he could have two stellar runs instead of only one but
is still satisfied with another top 15 finish. His final chance to
steak his claim for the overall top ten is in two weeks in Latzfons.
He will be sliding for his life there.

Best wishes,

Kaj and John

P.S. Photo compliments of Mr. Sobe.

FIL Aquotec World Cup Natural Track Luge - Latsch - Day 1

 

FIL aqotec WORLD CUP

NATURAL TRACK LUGE

 

Press Information

Saturday, January 23^rd, 2010

 

22^nd – 24^th January 2010

Latsch/Laces (ITA)

 

Pigneter/Clara (ITA) still winning

 

"Congratulations to Patrick Pigneter and Florian Clara, they are unbeatable these days, but we will keep trying", said runner up Christian Schopf (AUT) after the race. Pigneter/Clara (ITA) achieved in spite of the "choice of the wrong runners in the first run" – so Pigneter – the fastest times in both runs and in the final ranking were more than one second ahead of Schopf/Schopf (AUT). "We changed the runners after the first run, now everything is perfect again" said Pigneter. The new runners were in fact the old ones: "We repaired the broken ones from Russia and they worked well in the second run."

Equipment issues also kept the Schopf brothers awake last night: "We could tell in the training runs that there was something wrong and the sled just did not feel right. So we redid all the adjustments and worked until half past midnight." The trouble was rewarded as they could celebrate their second silver medal in their world cup career: "We are really happy about today's result, especially after having been fourth four times in a row now", said Andreas Schopf. "We always knew that we are not far away, but we made stupid mistakes, there was always something wrong. Today we had the luck on our side, we were still not at our best, too nervous, not really precise, but we have potential for improvement and we will try hard."

More problems with themselves and less with the equipment had the former European Champions Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev (RUS): "Pavel is still sick, better than last week, but far from well. Our first run was bad, way too many mistakes, but the second run was ok", said Ivan Lazarev.

 

In the women's event the first run was held today, Saturday, and it was not without surprises: serial winner Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) is ranked fourth, lead by Renate Gietl (ITA), Melanie Batkowski (AUT) and the new silver medallist in the European Championships, Evelin Lanthaler (ITA). The Germans Michaela Maurer and Veronika Nachmann are ranked sixth and ninth which - which a respective second run tomorrow, Sunday, might lead to their best career results.

 

 

Final Results Doubles (12):

 

1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA), 1:08,17(1), 1:07,25(1), 2:15,42

2. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:08,28(2), 1:08,39(3), 2:16,67

3.  Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:08,62(3), 1:08,10(2), 2:16,72

4. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:08,73(5), 1:08,46(4), 2:17,19

5. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 1:08,66(4), 1:08,95(6), 2:17,61

6. Florian BREITENBERGER/David MAIR (ITA), 1:09,46(6), 1:08,78(5), 2:18,24

7. Thomas KAMMERLANDER/Christoph REGENSBURGER (AUT), 1:09,79(7), 1:09,83(8), 2:19,62

8. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER), 1:10,28(8), 1:09,52(7), 2:19,80

 

 

Intermediate Ranking after one run women (20):

 

1. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:03,82(1),

2. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:04,44(2),

3. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 1:04,51(3),

4. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:04,60(4),

5. Alexandra OBRIST (ITA), 1:05,67(5),

6. Michaela MAURER (GER), 1:05,82(6),

7. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:05,98(7),

8. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:06,73 (8),

9. Veronika NACHMANN (GER), 1:06,80(9),

10. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:07,16(10),

 

 

World Cup Standing Doubles (4/6):

 

 

1. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS)                                                 340

2. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA)                                                   300

3. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT)                                            265

4. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL)                                        250

5. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS)                                                   244

6. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT)                                  211

7. Thomas KAMMERLANDER/Christoph REGENSBURGER (AUT)          151

8. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER)                                              123

9. Pavel SILIN/Iwan RODIN (RUS)                                                                   84

10. Galabin BOTZEV/Petar SAVOV (BUL)                                                      70

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Karl

FIL Media Service

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