The Umhausen Update

Well, as promised, here is the update form the singe Canadian
contingent on the World Cup circuit. The night race in Umhausen was
trying to say the least. The weather decided to throw in an extra
element, so to speak, and gave us some of the thickest snow I've ever
seen to slide through for the race. The track's ice did not hold up
its defence against this snow and became extremely soft and dry. But
fear not those who believe Canadians struggle in such conditions, I
was determined not to let the elements ruin my weekend. Knowing that
all the athletes had to deal with the weather, I threw myself down the
track as fast as I could and was able to put together two decent runs
and firmly claim the top 15! Some other athletes were not so
fortunate and in the end, allowed me to actually move up in the
overall standings to 10th place. I am determined to hold on to this
overall standing and will defend it to the "death" in the next two
World Cup races. Continue to send along your fastest thoughts and
vibes. Any sort of ESP or Karma is worth a try.

Here are two videos taken of me during the race. I hope you enjoy.

Stay fast,

Kaj

Coach's Corner - A Look Back

We asked Team Canada coach Keith Simmons if he could give us a little bit of an inside look at the last two FIL World Cup events (look at the athlete's impressions of those races here and here) and he was more than happy to oblige. Keith isn't travelling with the team this year so he asked the Canadians to send along their "track/set-up/performance impressions" after each event so he could read into the final results and give us a coach's perspective on what's been happening and why. Here's what Keith had to say:

Umhausen
From what I remember of the track the bottom section is the deciding factor for fast run times. The top consisting of a slightly technical combination, followed by textbook switchbacks, but the bottom (likely 500+ meters) with very long straights with a really tight 180 in the middle of it all makes or breaks the race. Hometrack advantage goes to Kammerlander with the right set-up to gain enough advantage in the first run to offset mistakes on the second, leaving the rest of the field battling for second.

Our Canucks – Of course Greg was out of this one due to an ankle injury from training. The first run shows good set-up selection and mental space for the tight 180 in the bottom part of the track. The second run, after the track having to endure a lot of racing without as much time to repair left Kaj and John (and others including the bronze winner Robert Batkowski) hoping for good braking and a subsequent decent line through the tight deciding 180 corner. Looks like the track took more advantage of Kaj.

Unterammergau
I don’t remember this being a very technical track, but fast, flowing, longish straights. Weather an issue as training was very slow due to rain, but a least cold on singles day for harder ice.

Pigneter showing once again that his secrets are better than anybody else, so an over view of the rest of the leaders – nothing to see here – move along; having not been there the results indicate the remainder of the top guys had a really rough time adjusting to the track being harder for the race.

Canucks – thanks Kaj, for showing that the program is beginning to pay off. Canada has been in what I call the second tier (ie not competitive with the top Austrians and Italians – YET!) and Kaj posting a finish at the top of some very fast Germans is testament. Greg comes off injury and this track plays to Greg’s strength of being a “natural/visceral” driver – and the results show. Johnny on the other hand likes to take his time in Europe as an opportunity to get his annual cold in – it’s an amazing thing to watch the living dead start a race. If you haven’t experienced this don’t worry there will be more chances – it’s tradition, he does this almost every year – so Johnny should back on form for Deutschnofen.

2009 Natural Track World Cup #2 Umhausen, Austria

After competing in the first World Cup event of the year as a team of one Kaj was happy to be joined by his two teammates, John Gibson and Greg Jones, this week. The team began with a few days of training at the host track of the upcoming World Championships in Passeier, Italy.

During training Greg Jones suffered a minor crash which resulted in a bruised heel and sprained ankle. After examination it was revealed that the injury would sideline him for the upcoming race in Umhausen, Austria. Kaj and John on the other hand, were healthy and well felt prepared.

Umhausen would be the first night race of the season which always presents difficulties for athletes as they work to stay mentally focused well into the evening. So, after a full day of waiting and watching, Kaj and John prepared for their evening runs which left them in positions 18th and 16th respectively.

On the second day of racing Kaj and John's runs didn't come until late in the day. After a full day's sliding the track’s breaking areas had deteriorated which caused Kaj and John minor grief for their final runs. John moved to 21st position and Kaj to fell to 17th. They were obviously slightly disappointed with their fall in the standings but hope to build on the good points from the race.

Greg was ready to continue training as of, Janurary 19th and the team is now looking forward to the next stop on the World Cup circuit, Unteramergau Germany.

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