23rd FIL European Championships Natural Track Luge - Team Event

23^rd FIL European Championships

Natural Track Luge 2010

 

 

Press Information

Friday, January 15^th, 2010

 

 

European Championships, January 14^th-17^th, 2010

in St.Sebastian/Mariazell (AUT)

 

 

First Gold Medal of European Championships goes to Austria

 

In the first European team Championships ever the team of Austria I managed to win the gold medal. The decision was extremely tight with only one point margin between Austria I (86 points) and Italy I (85 points). Points are rewarded according to ranks in the respective runs, the total time is only used in case of a tied result in points. Melanie Batkowski achieved the full 30 points for her team which the brothers Christian and Andreas Schopf saw with great relief: "Melanie was our joker today and made up for us as our run was far from perfect. We did not have any major mistakes, it was just not ideal from top to finish, maybe also due to our nerves, the pressure was incredible", said the both after the race, even though they were harsh on themselves as they were only beaten by Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA). Especially the doubles had to adjust to the rebuilt track: "There have been some changes in the bottom part of the track, now you can go full speed through the last turns, even as a doubleseater whereas we had to brake there on the old track", said Christian Schopf who aims for a podium finish also in tomorrow's double's event: "The pressure is certainly less now after having won a gold medal already and we know that we can be faster than today." His brother Andreas has been European Champion already, he won gold with his cousin Wolfgang Schopf in the 2002 European Championships in Frantschach (AUT).

A serious contender for the title will be Melanie Batkowski who achieved the fastest time today, but has not yet shown her best performance: "I am still working on the chicane and the curve in the steep part, I know I can do better there" said the Tyrolian who has won all possible team titles now: she had been team World Champion in 2005 and 2007. She handled the pressure of a home event really well: Of course I was nervous at the start and I have also been nervous for my team mates, but this is part of the game."

 

Italy I with a team of three experienced athletes and one rookie took the silver medal. Newcomer Alex Gruber first drew attention on him when he upset Italian fellow Patrick Pigneter in the Italian Championships a few weeks ago. The 17-year-old student of a sports school in Mals/Vinschgau started competitive racing comparatively late: "I only started seriously in 2004, before that I saw it as a hobby. My father got me interested in luge. He is still preparing my equipment and therefore a big thank you goes to him." Alex Gruber had his first international performance in last week's world cup in Umhausen. Today he finished fourth, but he achieved the fastest time in one training run. The solid basis for the eventual silver medal for the team of Italy I was the run of Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara who once more were the fastest double.

The Austrian success completed the bronze medal of team Austria II with

Marlies Wagner, Gerald Kammerlander, Christian Schatz/Gerhard Mühlbacher. The rule that points are rewarded and added instead of actual times was to their advantage: with their final time of 3:41,49 they would have been ranked behind Italy II and Russia I, but with 80 points they managed to climb the podium. So the Kammerlander family can celebrate two medals today: gold for Thomas Kammerlander, the younger of the brothers, and bronze for Gerald, who achieved the fastest time in today's race. He will be a contender for a medal in the single's race whereas another contender will be condemned to watch the race: Gernot Schwab hoped until the last moment to be fit enough to participate in his home Championships, but his knee injury suffered in a training crash two weeks ago does not allow a start in the race.

 

 

Final Results Team Event:

 

1. Austria I 3:37,90                                                         86

Melanie BATKOWSKI, 1:12,15(1)                                           30

Thomas KAMMERLANDER, 1:10,75(3)                                 28

Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF, 1:15,00(2)                28

 

2. Italy I       3:67,67                                                                   85

Renate GIETL, 1:12,41(3)                                                        28

Alex GRUBER, 110,88(4)                                                         27

Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA, 1:14,38(1)           30

 

3. Austria II          3:41,49                                                         80

Marlies WAGNER, 1:14,23(5)                                                 26

Gerald KAMMERLANDER, 1:10,59(1)                                   30

Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard Mühlbacher                                24

 

4. Italy II                3:40,32                                                         78

Evelyn LANTHALER, 1:12,19(2)                                             29

Stefan GRUBER, 1:10,69(2)                                                    29

Florian BREITENBERGER/David MAIR,1:17,44(6)              20

 

5. Russia I 3:40,43                                                                   78

Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA, 1:12,59(4)                                  27

Aleksandr EGOROV, 1:12,32(6)                                             25

Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV, 1:15,52(3)                       26

 

6. Poland   3:47,98                                                                   69

Natalia WANICZEK, 1:18,27(8)                                               23

Adam JEDRZEJKO, 1:12,90(7)                                               24

Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK, 1:16,81(5) 22

 

7. Germany, 3:46,89                                                                 66

Michaela MAURER, Marcus GRAUSAM, Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN

8. Russia II, 3:48,49                                                                 65

Ludmila ASTRAMOVISH, Jury TALYKH, Pavel SILIN/Ivan RODIN

9. Ukraine, 4:11,57                                                                  57

Yuliya MELNYK, Maryan HYZNER, Maryan HYZNER/Andri TOLOPKO

10. Bulgaria, 4:09,82                                                               56

Gergana ALEXANDROVA, Galabin BOTZEV, Chavdar ASROV/Petar SAVOV

 

 

Program for the remaining days:

 

 

Saturday, 16.01.2010:

09.30am: 1^st Competition Run Doubles

afterwards: 1^st Competition Run Women

11.30h: 2^nd Competition Run Doubles

afterwards Flower Ceremony Doubles

12.00pm: 2^nd Competition Run Women

afterwards: 1^st Competition Run Men

 

Sunday, 17.01.2010:

9.30am: 2^nd Competition Run Men

11.00am: 3^rd Competition Run Women

afterwards Flower Ceremony Women

12.00pm: 3^rd Competition Run Men

afterwards Flower Ceremony Men

2.00pm: Medal Ceremonies

 

 

European Championships online:

Saturday and Sunday there will be internet live coverage at

www.naturbahnrodeln.tv

beginning at 9.30am

 

 

 

Chris Karl

FIL Media Service

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23rd FIL European Championships Natural Track Luge 2010 - Preview

23^rd FIL European Championships

Natural Track Luge 2010

 

 

Press Information

Wednesday, January 13^th, 2010

 

 

European Championships, January 14^th-17^th, 2010

in St.Sebastian/Mariazell (AUT)

 

 

Premiere for Team Event in European Championships

 

For the first time ever a team event will be part of the European Championships which will be held this coming weekend in St. Sebastian near Mariazell, which is famous for pilgrimage. One run of a doubleseater and two single runs will be added, but athletes are allowed to start in both runs (single and double). This event will be held on the opening day of the Championships for which FIL president Josef Fendt is expected to attend.

He will be able to watch some exciting decisions. Superstar Patrick Pigneter (ITA) has won every available medal or title, except one: he has never been European Champion. In the two previous editions he won the bronze medal. Among his competitors will be two former and one reigning European Champion. Anton Blasbichler (ITA) won the title in 1993 in Stein/Enns (AUT) and 1999 in Szczyrk (POL), Gernot Schwab was Champion in 2006 in Umhausen (AUT) and Robert Batkowski (AUT) will try to defend his title.

In the double's event the title has been held by Russia's Pawel Porschnev/Ivan Lazarev for three consecutive championships, since Hüttau 2004. Only Helmut Ruetz/Andi Ruetz (AUT, 1995, 1997, 1999) achieved the same ever before. Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara had to settle for silver last time in Olang.

In the women's event Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) is the number one contender. Not only has she won the title twice so far (2004 and 2008), in the previous years she has hardly been beaten at all. Only Renate Gietl (ITA) and Melanie Batkowski (AUT) managed to break her seemingly endless winning streak now and then. And those two will also be very determined to leave Mariazell with a medal. Renate Gietl has won two bronze medals in the last two editions of European Championships, but Melanie Batkowski finished fourth twice in a row.

The track in St. Sebastian has been rebuilt since last year's World Cup. The finish curve has been reconstructed and is less tricky now. Tomorrow, Thursday, all training runs will be held, Friday the team event will be held. Saturday and Sunday the singles will race for medals. In European Championships for singles three runs will be conducted.

 

 

Results of 2008 European Championships in Olang/Valdaora (ITA):

 

Women:

1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS)

2. Renate KASSLATTER (ITA)

3. Renate GIETL (ITA)

4. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT)

5. Julia VETLOVA (RUS)

6. Evelyn LANTHALER (ITA)

 

Men:

1. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT)

2. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA)

3. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA)

4. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT)

5. Rudi RESCH (ITA)

6. Hannes CLARA (ITA)

 

Doubles:

1. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS)

2. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA)

3. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS)

4. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT)

5. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER)

6. Denis ALIMOV/Roman MOLVISTOV (RUS)

 

 

Program:

 

Thursday, 14.01. 2010:

Training runs for all events

 

Friday, 15.01.2010:

09.30am: Begin of team event

06.30pm: Opening Ceremony

 

Saturday, 16.01.2010:

09.30am: 1^st Competition Run Doubles

afterwards: 1^st Competition Run Women

11.30h: 2^nd Competition Run Doubles

afterwards Flower Ceremony Doubles

12.00pm: 2^nd Competition Run Women

afterwards: 1^st Competition Run Men

 

Sunday, 17.01.2010:

9.30am: 2^nd Competition Run Men

11.00am: 3^rd Competition Run Women

afterwards Flower Ceremony Women

12.00pm: 3^rd Competition Run Men

afterwards Flower Ceremony Men

2.00pm: Medal Ceremonies

 

 

Chris Karl

FIL Media Service

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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

FIL Aqotec World Cup III Natural Track Luge - Umhausen (AUT) - Singles Results

 

FIL aqotec WORLD CUP

NATURAL TRACK LUGE

 

Press Information 2

Saturday, January 9^th, 2010

 

8^th/9^th January 2010

Umhausen/Oetztal (AUT)

 

Lavrentjeva (RUS) and Pigneter (ITA) winners in Umhausen

His first single seater win of this season celebrated Patrick Pigneter (ITA) after achieving fastest times in both runs. "I really didn't think that I could win here, as the Austrians are traditionally very strong here. I thought that I would try to get a fair result here as with Latsch and Latzfons I have two of my favourite tracks coming up in the next races." Especially his first run was exceptionally good and he started into the second run with a head start of four tenths margin.

Hannes Clara (ITA) managed to tie his so far best career result with another second place in his first race of the season. "I did not have a lot of training and also my training runs here were not perfect, but I could feel that I was getting better and better", said the 19-year-old student of a commercial high school in Bolzano. Because he had not participated in the two races in Russia, he had to start the first run among all these athletes without World Cup points. "I had number 19 and no one of my colleges was at the start when I went into the race. But in the second run I was really nervous. I knew that because of the snow the track would not allow really fast times any more, but I managed to calm down and relax and defend my second place from the first run."

Local hero Thomas Kammerlander (AUT) who had also competed in the doubles raced but crashed, finished third on his home track. "I suffered an injury on my arm in that crash in the morning, but I managed not to let it get in my way and really focus on two good runs. Thank God I became third after all. I want to say my compliments to the track workers, in spite of the heavy snow falls they managed to keep the track in excellent shape throughout the race."

 

Fastest times in both runs guaranteed Ekaterina Lavrentjeva (RUS) her 29th World Cup win – on a track which is not really her favorite track: „Here it is always difficult for me to show an excellent performance, but I did not make any major mistakes and I am very happy with the result." Italy's Renate Gietl, only beaten by a tenth of a second, finished second and could break the curse of being the eternal third. After five consecutive third places in the World Cup and two third places in European Championships (Umhausen 2006 and Olang 2008) she was happy to move up one rank but not entirely satisfied: "When the margin is so small you are never 100% satisfied, but I had two great runs and I am back!" Third became Melanie Batkowski (AUT) who –like the winner – prefers other tracks: "My favourite tracks are in Russia and in Latsch. I did not choose the perfect equipment for the narrow turns here, but you have to be able to do a good race on every track."

 

 

 

 

Final Results Women (21):

 

1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:13,67(1), 1:13,84(1), 2:27,51

2. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:13,75(2), 1:13,86(2), 2:27,61

3. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:14,38(3), 1:14,10(3), 2:28,48

4. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:14,92(4), 1:15,26(4), 2:30,18

5. Evelyn LANTHALER (ITA), 1:14,99(5), 1:15,33(5), 2:30,32

6. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:15,36(6), 1:15,67(7), 2:31,03

7. Alexandra OBRIST (ITA), 1:15,90(7), 1:15,64(6), 2:31,54

8. Michaela MAURER (GER), 1:16,21(8), 1:16,32(9), 2:32,53

9. Tamara SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:16,37(10), 1:16,31(8), 2:32,68

10. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:16,60(11), 1:16,58(10), 2:33,18

 

 

Final Results Men (43):

 

1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:12,33(1), 1:13,26(3), 2.25,59

2. Hannes CLARA (AUT), 1:12,73(2), 1:13,40(5), 2:26,13

3. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:12,89(3), 1:13,32(4), 2:26,21

4. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:12,94(4), 1:13,47(6), 2:26,41

5. Rudi RESCH (ITA), 1:13,57(10), 1:13,09(1), 2:26,66

6. Florian BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:13,14(5), 1:13,60(8), 2:26,74

7. Alex GRUBER (ITA), 1:13,78(12), 1:13,15(2), 2:26,93

8. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:13,48(9), 1:13,59(7), 2:27,07

9. Georg MAURER (GER), 1:13,45(8), 1:13,71(9), 2:27,16

10. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:13,29(6), 1:13,88(11), 2:27,17

15. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN), 1:14,51(16), 1:14,46(16), 2:28,97

 

 

World Cup Standings (3/6):

 

Women:

 

1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS)        285 Punkte

2. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT)                  255

3. Renate GIETL (ITA)                                225

4. Marlies WAGNER (AUT)                        175

5. Evelyn LANTHALER (ITA)            170

6. Olga SIDOROVA (RUS)                         126

7. Veronika NACHMANN (GER)                110

8. Nina BUCINEL (SLO)                             106

9. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT)                 104

10. Ludmila ASTRAMOVISH (RUS)   80

 

 

Men:

 

1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA)                        270

2. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT)                        236

3. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT)        195

4. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA)                   175

5. Rudi RESCH (ITA)                                  143

6. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT)                         130

6. Stefan GRUBER (ITA)                            130

8. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT)          110

9. Ziga PAGON (SLO)                                102

10. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN)                             98

 

Full results:

http://www.fil-luge.org/filext/result_detail_select.asp?lan=en&currSeason=2009%2F2010&art=NB&cup_type=WC+&event_id_fk=493

 

Chris Karl

FIL Media Service

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FIL Aqotec World Cup III Natural Track Luge - Umhausen (AUT) - Doubles Results

FIL aqotec WORLD CUP

NATURAL TRACK LUGE

 

Press Information 1

Saturday, January 9^th, 2010

 

8^th/9^th January 2010

Umhausen/Oetztal (AUT)

 

Pigneter/Clara back on winning track

Already in the first run it was clear that Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) were back. In the second run all they needed was a safety run to finalize their 13^th career win. "Our first run was great, so that we could take it a bit easier in the second, we did not want to take a high risk and maybe crash again", said Pigneter. And Florian Clara explained: "After our crash in Russia we had to see whether the sled could be repaired or not. But we were lucky and could replace all damaged pieces. A big thank you goes to the Torggler company as they got us all we needed within shortest time. Basically all metal parts are the old sled, everything else is new."

From intermediate rank four to the second place brought Pavel Porschnev/Ivan Lazarev (RUS) a fantastic second run. "After the first run we realized that we had not made the best choice with our equipment, so we changed the runners. The second run was great," said Lazarev who is looking forward to their season highlight, the European Championships in St. Sebastian next week.

Poland's Andrzej Laszczak/Damian Waniczek are also thinking of next week's championships when they analyze their constantly improving performances: "We finished third again, but we are doing much better than at the beginning of the winter. We were a bit too much on the brakes in the first run and had a mistake in the first combination of the second run, so we can do better. We could not practise in St. Sebastian yet, but nobody could, so everybody has got the same chances there."

 

The World Cup in Umhausen will be continued with the single seater races today, Saturday, at 5pm.

 

 

Final Result Doubles (11):

 

1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA), 1:16,46(1), 1:17,32(2), 2:33,78

2. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:17,68(4), 1:17,18(1), 2:34,86

3. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:17,62(3), 1:17,45(3), 2:35,07

4. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:17,58(2), 1:17,82(4), 2:35,40

5. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 1:18,19(5), 1:17,94(5), 2.36,13

6. Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV (RUS), 1:18,25(6), 1:18,28(6), 2:36,53

 

 

World Cup Ranking (3/6):

 

 

1. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS)                                                  270

2. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS)                                                    205

3. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA)                                                    200

4. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL)                                        190

5. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT)                                            180

6. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT)                                  156

7. Thomas KAMMERLANDER/Christoph REGENSBURGER (AUT)          105

8. Pavel SILIN/Iwan RODIN (RUS)                                                                    84

 

 

Chris Karl

FIL Media Service

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Aqotec World Cup Natural Track Luge Umhausen (AUT) - Preview

 

FIL Aqotec WORLD CUP

NATURALTRACK LUGE

 

PressInformation

Thursday, January 7^th, 2010

 

8^th/9^th January 2010

Umhausen/Oetztal(AUT)

 

100^th World Cup race happens to bethe Umhausen classic

The natural track luge World Cupwill celebrate an anniversary this coming weekend: 17 years after the firstrace was held in December 1992 the night event in Umhausen will be the 100^thrace in the world cup's history. The winners in the first race in Rautavaara inFinlandwere Gerhard Pilz (AUT), Ljubov Panjutina (RUS) and Helmut Ruetz/Andi Ruetz(AUT). Only Gerhard Pilz is still active in the community, these days as thecoach of the German team.

A lot has changed between Rautavaara1992 and Umhausen 2010 knows Herbert Wurzer, World Cup director and initiatorof the world cup: "The most influencial changes were the start order, thequality of result lists and the marketing. At the beginning the start order wasthe result of a random draw, then we had groups of seeded athletes which wasreally confusing and not very spectator friendly. Now the start order isaccording to the World Cup ranking and everybody knows that the best athletesstart at the end." Everybody has come to take it for granted that result listsare available as soon as the last athlete passes the finish line. "A lot haschange here, too. We have the same type of lists at all races so that coaches,athletes, spectators and media people know what to expect and where to look forwhatever information they want", says Wurzer. "When we introduced sequence timesfor the respective parts of the track, it took a couple of years to find a goodformat. Today I think we have the highest level of result processing that canbe reached. Also that host cities of World Cups receive financial support isquite new. This is only possible because we have sponsors and they bring inmoney. This was not the case 17 years ago."

 

In the 100^th race, thefirst on European soil in this winter, the duel between serial winner PatrickPigneter (ITA) and rookie Thomas Schopf (AUT) will most likely be continued.But local heroes Thomas and Gerald Kammerlander (AUT) will also be strongcontenders on their home track.

In the women's event the eternalfight between Ekaterina Lavrentjeva (RUS), Renate Gietl (ITA) and MelanieBatkowski (AUT) will go in its next round.

In the double's event PatrickPigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) will be the ones to beat, but they will have topresent themselves on new equipment as they totalled their sled in their crashin Novouralsk.

As always in Umhausen the single'sevents will be held as a night race. The double seaters will open the 100^thWorld Cup at noonat daylight.

 

Track Info "Grantau":

 

Length: 1000m

Elevation Start: 1160m

Elevation Finish: 1040m

Difference: 120m

Average Descent: 12,1%

 

Program:

 

Friday, 8 Jan 2010

12.00pm: 1.Training run women and men

02.00pm: 1.Training run doubles

04.00pm: 2.Trainings run doubles

06.30pm: 2.Training run women and men

 

Saturday, 9 Jan 2010

10.30am: 1.competition run doubles

12:00am: 2.competition run doubles

05.00pm: 1.competition run women and men

07.00pm: 2.competition run women and men

09.00pm: Medal Ceremonies

 

ChrisKarl

FILMedia Service