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

Team Canada Video Update #1

The guys just sent in this video update for all their fans at LugeNews.com. Watch to see a little of the on ice action from the first 3 World Cup events.... and stick around to the end of the vid for a little something special.

FIL PEWO World Cup - Deutschnofen, Preview

FIL PEWO World Cup Natural Track
Press Information, Thursday, January 29th, 2009
FIL PEWO World Cup in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente (ITA)

Early World Cup decisions on a new track

The fourth out of six world cup races will be an early decision for the overall ranking in the PEWO World Cup. Deutschnofen/Nova Ponenete is a new track on the tour this will be the first World Cup ever hosted there. However, the track is not an unknown to the athletes, almost all nations have been practising there and know very well what to expect.

Spectators can expect a tight head-to-head race between Gerald Kammerlander (AUT) and Patrick Pigneter (ITA) as only one point separates them in the PEWO overall World Cup ranking.

With three wins in three races Renate Gietl (ITA) will be the clear favourite in her home country.
In the doubleseater event nothing has been decided yet, just as every year four nations – Russia, Austria, Poland and Italy - are fighting for the number one position.

New to the World Cup circuit are two Korean sliders; Yamo Hyun and Lee Jenng-II.
[ Luge News note: These sliders are so new they aren't listed in the FIL Athlete database - if I messed up their names any help would be appreciated. And, I also have to say; that looks like it hurt! ]

In the first race of the season FIL trainer Karl Flacher denied them a start permit as the risk would have been too high. In the meantime they have been practising a lot and have learned to manage the steep racetracks. Before they will be able to chase the top performers, it will take a lot more trainings runs, though.

The PEWO World Cup in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente will be a night event. Training runs will be held on Friday and Saturday, the competition will start on Saturday at 2pm.


Track Info:
Length of track: 871 meters
Altitude of Start: 1505 m above sea level
Altitude of Finish: 1384 m
Difference between start and finish: 121 m
Average descent: 13%
Maximum descent: 16%
Minimum descent: 5%


Program:
Friday, 30.01.2009:
12.00pm: Team Captain´s Meeting
3.00pm: 1.Training run women and men
6.00pm: 2.Training run women and men
afterwards 1.Training run doubles
afterwards Opening Ceremony

Saturday, 31.01.2009:
1.00pm: 2.Training run doubles
2.00pm: 1.competition run doubles
3.00pm: 2.competition run doubles
afterwards Flower Ceremony
4.00pm: 1.competition run women and men
6.00pm: 2.competition run women and men
afterwards Flower Ceremony
afterwards: Medal Ceremonies

All Photos Credit to: FIL/Sobe

Quick Note: Team Canada In the News

Just a quick note to pass on that Team Canada member John "Johnny Luge" Gibson made a cameo appearance in the Daily Herald Tribune newspaper yesterday. The DHT as it's known locally is based in Grande Prairie Alberta, Canada.

The photo provided by the FIL was posted to Luge News on Sunday and it still appears on the paper's website here.

Hey Luge Lovers, here's an idea; click on that link above to visit the paper a couple of times. They should see the "hits" the page is getting and maybe, just maybe it will encourage them to expand their coverage of the sport! It certainly couldn't hurt anyway.

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.

Natural Luge in the Olympics?

Fans of Natural Track have had their hopes dashed before but recent news suggests that the FIL hasn't given up on getting the sport in to the Olympics! As recently as the 2005 World Championships in Latsch (ITA) there was still hope the sport would make the cut for the 2010 games in Vancouver.

Thanks to a helpful tip from one of our favourite Hintonites we can pass on that FIL president Josef Fendt has confirmed that the organization is working with the IOC - with the intent of getting the nod to include the sport in the 2018 Olympics:

"Fendt said that the next application will be for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, which will be awarded in 2011. Until then all the tasks requested by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) should be implemented."

2018 is a long time away but the the stars might just be aligning to have natural track in an Olympics before then:

"The 2012 Olympic Youth Games have been awarded to Innsbruck. In a mutual effort made by FIL, the Austrian Luge Federation, the luge federation of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, and the organizers of the 2012 Olympic Youth Games, it could be possible to already include natural track luge there."

Ok, ok ... It's not the Olympics but it is an Olympics and that's something fans and athletes should all be happy about. You can read the full story here.

2009 Natural Track World Cup #3 Unterammergau, Germany

Team Canada recaps the 3rd Natural Track World Cup event of 2009:

For the first day of training our hopes of sliding on hard cold ice were literally washed away as the weather in Unterammergau took a turn for the worse and poured rain all day. This caused the ice on the track to be very soft which resulted in slower speeds for the whole field. Knowing that Unterammergau is notoriously a very speedy track we were disappointed that we would not experience the full speeds on our first day of training. The highlight of the day was hitting the brakes in the finish area (which resembled a swimming pool) and having a tidal wave slow you to a soaking halt! Another training note: Greg and Kaj for the second time entered a World Cup race as a doubles team. The slushy conditions also made for a very wet, cold, and exhilarating doubles training run.

Saturday’s program featured the doubles race. Greg and Kaj had a very busy day with three doubles runs. They were feeling more and more confident with each run and claimed two personal victories. They were faster with every consecutive run and their two race runs were within three tenths of one another. Greg and Kaj are looking forward to more doubles training and racing and to learning more about the technique of doubles sliding.

Sunday was the main event: the Men’s Singles race. This week, the full crew of John Gibson, Greg Jones, and Kaj Johnson were entered to represent Canada. The day’s conditions were the first victory of the day; the temperatures were low and the ice was hard and fast. Unfortunately, John woke up feeling flu-like symptoms but pulled himself together enough to start in the race.

All three of us had our fastest runs on the track in our first race runs, something that we are always striving for. This had John placed in 21st, Greg in 20th, and Kaj in 14th position for the start of the second run. John was first up for the Canadians and had a slightly slower second run but maintained his 21st position. Greg was very consistent coming in only three tenths slower than his first run and moved into 19th position. Kaj was one of the few athletes in the field to have a faster second run than his first, which helped to propel him into 13th position in the final results. In the end, this race held many victories for the small Canadian contingent. For starters, both Greg and Kaj had their best ever World Cup finishes.

Secondly, Kaj’s start time for the second race run was the fastest in the whole field. And lastly, the fastest nation after the Italian and Austrian powerhouses was Canada. Astonishingly, these results were accomplished with no prior training on this track.

We leave Germany on an intense high. The next World Cup is in Deutchenhofen, Italy next weekend. We are hoping that this high will carry us to similar results there.

All for now,

The Canadian Natural Luge Team