FIL PEWO World Cup - Deutschnofen, Wrap Up

Press Information Saturday, January 31st, 2009
PEWO World Cup/January 30th - 31st 2009 Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente (ITA)


Lavrentjeva back on top, Pigneter wins in doubles and singles

In a spectacular race with an interruption due to a light problem the new World Cup leader Patrick Pigneter showed excellent nerves. His Italian teammate, Hannes Clara, had to stop his run and repeat it as the lights went off in a stretch of the track during his run. At the top Pigneter and Thomas Schopf, ranked second after the first run, had to wait for Clara to walk back to the start and retake his run.

“It was difficult”, said Pigneter who won in the doubles as well as the singles event within one day. “It is already exhausting to build up the right focus four times in a day, but today it was five times. But I had an excellent run and I felt really good.”
After two third place finishes Austria´s Thomas Schopf achieved his best career result by coming in second. “I managed to keep cool. I had two small mistakes in my run, but altogether I am glad that I did pretty well in spite of the situation with the light.”

Most affected of course was Hannes Clara who went through an emotional rollercoaster: “I saw that it was dark ahead of me, but first I thought it was just one lamp which did not work. When I saw that a whole section of the track was dark, I just stopped. First I felt like in a shock, I was not my usual self and everything felt strange. But then I had a cup of tea and tried to focus again”, said Clara who finished third.

On the women's side Russia´s record breaker is back on top: Ekatharina Lavrentjeva has won her first race in this season and the 26th of her career. With Evelyn Lanthaler (ITA) as runner up a new face was seen on the podium: “So far a fifth place was my best result so my goal was to finish fourth. Even though my training performance was good I never would have thought that I could do so well here.” She is still a junior, so her next race will be next week´s European Junior Championships before she will return to her hometown Moos/Passeier for the World Championships.

Serial winner Renate Gietl (ITA) had to settle for the third place. “I had a mistake in the first run which caused the time gap which I did not manage to make up for in the second run. But I have had three perfect races this season, so I am still satisfied”, she said.

“The World Championships in two weeks are our most important goal in this season and of course it is great that right now everything is going so well for us”, said Patrick Pigneter after his second consecutive win in the doubles event. But he also concedes it was not an easy win: “This track has its three or four key passages and if you make a mistake there, you lose.” As it turns out, Pigneter and team mate Florain Clara did not make any mistakes and won with a margin of more than half a second. Russia´s Pawel Porschnev/Ivan Lazarev finished second, but have definitely not given up their hopes for the overall PEWO World Cup. With only 25 points behind Pigneter/Clara they will start into the grand final which will be held in their home country, in Ekaterinburg.

Third went to Christian and Andreas Schopf (AUT) who seem to be in top shape for the World Championships and believe that they can do even better: “We have tried a lot of different things with our equipment early in the season, but now we have found the perfect setup. Still, we are making little mistakes and losing time. We are happy with the result today, but the runs were not as good as they could have been.” They will go straight from Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente to Passeier to do some practise runs on the track there. “But we will not stay there all the time, we will practise on different tracks and get as much time on the sled as we can.”

There will be a three weeks break in the PEWO World Cup before the grand final in Ekaterinburg, Russia, with two races starting on February 22nd.


Final Results:

Women (16):
1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 0:55,25(1), 0:55,27(1), 1:50,52
2. Evelyn LANTHALER (ITA), 0:55,50(3), 0:55,40(2), 1:50,90
3. Renate GIETL (ITA), 0:55,49(2), 0:55,43(3), 1:50,92
4. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 0:55,67(4), 0:56,08(4), 1:51,75
5. Renate KASSLATTER (ITA), 0:56,93(9), 0:56,55(5), 1:53,48
6. Tamara SCHWARZ (ITA), 0:56,54(5), 0:57,08(8), 1:53,62
7. Julia VETLOVA (RUS), 0:56,61(6), 0:57,07(7), 1:53,68
8. Michaela MAURER (GER), 0:56,82(8), 0:56,89(6), 1:53,71
9. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:53,93
10. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:54,31



Men (39):
1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 0:53,51(1), 0:54,12(1), 1:47,63
2. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 0:53,88(2), 0:54,44(2), 1:48,32
3. Hannes CLARA (ITA), 0:54,03(3), 0:54,64(4), 1:48,67

4. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 0:54,59(6), 0:54,47(3), 1:49,06
5. Rudi RESCH (ITA), 0:54,45(4), 0:54,6(5), 1:49,12
6. Andreas CASTIGLIONI (ITA), 0:54,74(7), 0:54,80(6), 1:49,54
7. Stefan GRUBER (ITA), 0:54,47(5), 0:55,15(7), 1:49,62
8. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 0:55,03(9), 0:55,21(8), 1:50,24
9. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:50,50
10. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1:50,52
11. Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:50,94
12. Florian BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:50,96
13. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:50,97
14. Georg MAURER (GER), 1:51,00
20. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN), 1:53,28
25. John GIBSON (CAN), 1:54,77
29. Greg JONES (CAN), 1:58,33


Doubles (12):
1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA), 0:57,77 (1), 0:57,70(1), 1:55,47
2. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 0:58,33(2), 0:58,47(2), 1:56,80
3. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 0:58,54(3), 0:58,65(3), 1:57,19
4. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS), 0:58,96(4), 0:59,05(4), 1:58,01
5. Thomas WEISS/Andreas LEITER(ITA), 0:59,41(5), 0:59,34(5), 1:58,75
6. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 0:59,79(7), 0:59,48(6), 1:59,48
7. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:59,58
8. Christoph KNAUDER/Thomas KNAUDER (AUT), 2:00,70
10. Kaj JOHNSON/Greg JONES (CAN), 1:02,62(10), 1:02,52(10), 2:05,14

All Photos Credit: FIL/Sobe

2009 FIL PEWO World Cup, Unterammergau Day 1

Press Information Saturday, January 24th, 2009
PEWO World Cup/January 23rd – 25th 2009 in Unterammergau (GER)

Pigneter/Clara back on top, first podiums for Austria

Pigneter/Clara (ITA) Photo Credits: FIL/Sobe

Only those who were flexible enough and could adjust to constantly changing conditions had a chance to win the PEWO World Cup in Unterammergau. During the training runs a heavy storm was blowing and rain watered the track, it froze over night for the morning run and became a bit softer again for the second run. Even though they had problems with their sled, Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) were the team that could handle the situation best. “We have had a lot of bad luck this season,” said Pigneter, “in the first run once again one of our runners broke. Thank God we had enough replacement runners, sometimes last year we actually had only one.” Their win was the eighth of their career and put them in the lead in the overall PEWO World Cup.

Austria´s Christian and Andreas Schopf could celebrate their first podium finish in this constellation. After having lead after the first run, they finished second. “We tried a different sled for this race and it proved to be the right decision. Besides that, we like fast and spectacular tracks like this one here”, said Christian, the younger one of the brothers. Andreas, who is four years senior to Christian, can already look back at a successful career with his cousin Wolfgang. “Three years ago I started racing with my brother,” said Andreas. “We had to take a break last season as I could not find enough time, but now we are back and basically professional athletes.” Andreas is a student who can plan his time around training and Christian can fully concentrate on luge as he will join the military in March.

Christian Schatz/Gerhard Mühlbacher (AUT) started to show signs of life for the first time this season and finished third. “We never ever worked as hard as we did this December and January and yet we did not perform too well. We were close to the top people, but never better than fifth,” said Mühlbacher. “But we did not give up and looked into everything again these past days and now I think we have made a huge step forward. We are still not in top shape, that´s why I am really proud that we did well yesterday and today, as the conditions were extremely different.”

The World Cup weekend will be continued with the single races tomorrow, Sunday, starting at 11am.

Final Results Doubles (11):

1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA), 1:12,90(2), 1:11,98(1), 2:24,88
2. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:12,71(1), 1:12,84(2), 2:25,55
3. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 1:13,09(3), 1:12,92(3), 2:26,01
4. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:13,68(6), 1:12,99(4), 2:26,67
5. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS), 1:13,59(5), 1:13,12(5), 2:26,71
6. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:13,32(4), 1:13,79(6), 2:27,11
11. Kaj JOHNSON/Greg JONES (CAN), 1:23,66(11), 1:23,35(11), 2:47,01

Photo Credits: FIL/Sobe

FIL PEWO World Cup - Umhausen, Media Release

FIL PEWO World Cup Natural Track
Press Information, Saturday, January 17th, 2009
PEWO World Cup/January 17th /18th, Umhausen (AUT)

Kammerlander (AUT) wins home race

Thomas Kammerlander - photo credit: FIL/Sobe

With a track record in his first run and the second best time in the second run, local hero Thomas Kammerlander showed that currently he is the man to beat. “I don´t know what changed from last year to now, I think I am taking a higher risk, maybe I was holding back too much in the past years”, said the young Austrian, who joined the military last spring. “My equipment is really perfect, I make less mistakes than in the last years and everything is going just very, very well.” He will need a top-three result in the overall world cup or a medal in the World Championships to maintain his position in the military. Currently he is the only natural track luge athlete who has been approved as a full time athlete soldier.
Runner up Patrick Pigneter (ITA) proved with the fastest time in the second run, that he has fully recovered from last week´s crash. “I ruined my sled in this crash and I could not try a new one, because I had too much pain until yesterday. So I used my very old one for the second run”, he said.

European Champion Robert Batkowski showed with his third place, that he is always good for a surprise. “I am satisfied with the result, but the time gaps are still too big. I will have to analyse that and see where the problem is.”

In the women´s event Renate Gietl (ITA) and Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) switched roles from last year to this year. Whereas the Russian shocked her competitors with one track record after the other and Gietl could reach the same time now and then, it is just the other way round in this winter: Renate Gietl seems to be the one who can produce one fastest run after the other. “I do not even know what exactly has changed”, she said. “My equipment is really perfect and I just feel in good shape and really strong.” So Gietl won once again and Lavrentjeva had to settle for second, just like one week ago. With a good second run Melanie Batkowski could improve her ranking and took the third spot on the podium. She was still a little handicapped by a knee injury suffered in St Sebastian, but hopes to be fully fit next week in Germany.

With a “fantastic first run, no risk in the second run” the Russian double Pawel Porschnev/Ivan Lazarev secured their second win in the second race. With them coming first, Pigneter/Clara and Laszczak/Waniczek second and third, the exact same result of last week was repeated. Patrick Pigneter (ITA) thinks that he and Florian Clara are ready to win again: “In our first run the runners did not work at all, so we changed everything and now I believe that our sled is really fast again”, he said, but he also knows that he has been lucky today: “We had a very critical moment in the second run, where we almost came to a halt, but then we managed to go full speed in the final part of the track.” He has fully recovered from his crash last week: “I did have some pain in my chest yesterday, but today I was fine.”

Poland´s Andrzej Laszczak/Damian Waniczek finished third and any podium result is a good result for them – it was their 23rd career podium finish today. “We tried a lot of different things in the training and now I think I have found the fastest setting for this technically challenging track”, he said. “But next week in Germany everything will be different again. At the last world cup race there, four years ago, it was extremely warm. We will have to see how the conditions are this year.”

Final Results:

Women:
1. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:13,63(1), 1:13,92(1), 2:27,55
2. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:14,00(2), 1.14,19(2), 2:28,19
3. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:15,04(4), 1:14,26(3), 2:29,30
4. Renate KASSLATTER (ITA), 1:14,73(3), 1:15,39(6), 2:30,12
5. Evelyn LANTHALER (ITA), 1:15,24(5), 1:15,21(4), 2:30,45
6. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:15,35(6), 1:15,26(5), 2:30,61
7. Julia VETLOVA (RUS), 1:15,45(8), 1:15,58(7), 2:31,03
8. Tamara SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:15,37(7), 1:15,79(8), 2:31,16
9. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:15,82(9), 1:16,17(9), 2:31,99
10. Michaela MAURER (GER), 1:16,95(10), 1:17,06(11), 2:34,01

Men:
1. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:12,39(1), 1:13,08(2), 2:25,47
2. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:12,81(2), 1:12,78(1), 2:25,59
3. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:12,83(3), 1:13,63(8), 2:26,46
4. Hannes CLARA (ITA), 1:13,08(4), 1:13,46(5), 2:26,54
5. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA), 1:13,29(7), 1:13,40(4), 2:26,69
6. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:13,18(5), 1:13,68(10), 2:26,86
7. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:13,25(6), 1:13,64(9), 2:26,89
8. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:13,36(8), 1:13,54(6), 2:26,90
9. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 2:27,29
10. Rudi RESCH (ITA), 2:27,40
11. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 2:28,14
12. Ziga PAGON (SLO), 2:28,53
17. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN), 2:29,66
21. John GIBSON (CAN), 2:30,88

Doubles:
1. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:17,10(1), 1:17,62(2), 2:34,72
2. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA), 1:17,66(3), 2:35,02
3. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:17,62(2), 1:17,95(4), 2:35,57
4. Thomas WEISS/Andreas LEITER (ITA), 1:18,30(7), 1.17,62(2), 2:35,92
5. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 1:18,18(6), 1:17,98(5), 2:36,16
6. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:18,17(5), 1:18,15(7), 2:36,32
7. Thomas KAMMERLANDER/Christoph REGENSBURGER (AUT), 2:36,43
8. Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV (RUS), 2:36,70