Two clinics were held this weekend at the "Grosser Preis von Europa im Sportrodeln" (aka. Sport Sled European Championships in English). The first was in kicking butt; Kaj and John's butts that is. They were taught a lessen in shame, and the recreational sliders (some as old as sixty) were their professors. Kaj and John prefer not to mention their placings, but needless to say, they were schooled. They gained a new found respect for the sliders who are able to drive such out of control sleds up to times of within six to seven seconds off the best racing sled times. Simply astounding.
The second clinic was much less humbling for the boys. During the opening ceremonies celebrations, they found that they fit in nicely with the laid-back sport sliding culture. They enjoyed a "spirited" evening with their newfound sport sliding friends.
Hey everyone! Kaj and John again reporting from Sunny Süd Tirol on last weekend's World Cup race in Latzfons. This was the duo's final World Cup race of the season and it was a dandy finish. The Latzfons organizing team did a fantastic job advertising the race and the public turnout was nothing short of astonishing.
Now to the nitty-gritty. John found himself struggling with his nemesis track during training and was determined to finally conquer it for race day. The first race run left him feeling hopeful about his result. It was his best run yet on the track this season. Unfortunately, the track was not finished with its torment on poor John. He fought hard on the second run, but the track fought just a little harder. In the final corner the track made a tactical move and narrowed by three millimeters to tap John on his "would be" speedy exit. He unfortunately lost two places by seven hundredths due to this cheap shot. He would finish in 24th position.
Kaj's race was pretty good. However, he was again plagued by a mediocre first run and had to really up his game to move into a better position. Kaj had a slight mistake on his first run in the flat middle section of the track that cost him a considerable amount of time. He did, however, pick it up for the bottom section to salvage the run from total disaster. He started the second run in 16th position. This time things went much better. The track conditions had dropped significantly and almost the entire field had trouble coping. This was Kaj's chance. He posted a faster time on his second run while everyone else got slower and was able to move into 14th position to claim his fifth top 15 finish of the season. This marks the first year Kaj has placed in the top 15 for all his races.
Kaj and John have now packed up their racing sleds and have switched over to some sport sleds which they will use to race with in the "Grosse Preis (Big Prize)" Sport Cup race to be held in Olang this coming weekend. Sport sleds are the more recreational version of the race sleds with much shallower angles and higher bridges. They will have to hone in on their "drifting" skills in order to master this discipline of the sport. Look for another update on the Grosse Preis after the weekend.
Renate Gietl (ITA) wins home race, Patrick Pigneter (ITA) once again in his own league
Renate Gietl (ITA) took revenge on her home track in Latzfons and is fully at ease now. Five years ago she came to Latzfons as the World Cup leader and had just won four consecutive races and yet was denied her home triumph. Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) won the race, Renate Gietl finished fourth. "With my win today a lot of pressure was taken from me. Winning is always more difficult at home and I am so happy that I could accomplish this today." But there had been a fraction of insecurity for her when she crossed the finish line: "I heard the speaker say 'second' and I saw the two on the board, but then eventually my name came up first." The 'two' had just indicated the run time and in fact, Lavrentjeva had been faster in the second run: exactly one hundredth of a second.
In the final ranking Lavrentjeva came second and she is already analysing the result: "My first run was not good. But my teammates also noticed that my start times were really bad. I have to look into that and work at it. There is one race left this winter." Everything promises a breathtaking show-down in three weeks in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER) as Renate Gietl has not given up the fight yet: "I still do have a tiny idea of a chance."
Within no time Junior World Champion Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) has established herself as a serious contender for podium finishes. She finished third once again and seems to handle the pressure in the "adult world" really well. "It seems that after my medal in the European Championships everything is going by itself. I know that I can perform well, I do not put too much pressure on myself and I am fully motivated. I am quite nervous now and then, but I know that I am mentally strong. My goal today was to defend my third place which I had in yesterday's first run."
In the Men's race, Patrick Pigneter (ITA) once again dominated his opponents. And he almost became the victim of his own superiority: "This is one of my favourite tracks and I was so incredibly fast in the training runs that I almost slowed down a little too much in the first run. I was really surprised to see that I was only 12 hundredths ahead." For the second run Pigneter relied on his training equipment and won without difficulties. He even had time enough to enjoy the cheers of the spectators at the finish: "There were really a lot of people along the track today. We should have more races like this one, it is fantastic to have such an audience. This is a sign that our sport is on a good path."
The only athlete who could challenge Pigneter – at least in the first run – was fellow Italian Rudi Resch. Resch was runner up the second time in Latsch two weeks ago. "I was a bit worried about the second run as I personally prefer a cold a hard track and because of the sunshine it had become soft." But he managed well and held onto second place.
The real battle was behind the two Italians for the third spot on the podium. Eventually Austria's Gernot Schwab – tied with Anton Blasbichler in fifth place after the first run - was the lucky one. "This success means a lot to me. One month ago I was down on my belly here in Latzfons, today I am standing on the podium." In a training accident Schwab had injured his knee which had caused him to miss the European Championships. "I have never been so afraid as I was today. My knee is not stable yet, and with all the holes in the track due to the sunshine, I was afraid I would catch my foot in one of them. Really, all I wanted was to reach the finish without an injury. But then I heard the times of Robert Batkowski and Anton Blasbichler and I knew that I had to attack. I took full risk and I have succeeded ."
For the 15th time in their career Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) were faster than anybody else and are now tied for second place with retired athletes Helmut Ruetz/Andi Ruetz (AUT) who also have 15 wins in the eternal historic result list. The Austrians however, have a total of 32 podiums finishes though, whereas Pigneter/Clara currently have 18. So far, Reinhard Beer/Herbert Kögl (AUT) with 18, have the most World Cup wins.
Beer/Kögl may have 18, but Pigneter/Clara are young and ambitious enough and might break this record in near future: "So far we are not bored with winning", said Pigneter in Latzfons after their third consecutive win: "We are just faster than the others, even though the Russians were faster in the bottom part in the first run, but our performance was more balanced. In the second run we could go first, it is always more difficult when you have to attack, this is when you start making mistakes." Pigneter/Clara also proved experience by choosing the right equipment: "We tried different runners in the training runs, but thank God we picked the right ones for the race."
Runners up – for the 21st time in their career – were Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev (RUS). They were not totally satisfied with their placing: "The result is not bad, but also not really good. We made a mistake after the second turn which immediately showed in our run time."
Also not really happy were Christian Schopf/Andreas Schopf (AUT): "We could have been faster. But a podium finish is always a good result and also very important regarding the overall world cup. These were important points to increase the gap between the Polish and the other Russian double. In the second run our runners were too harsh for the track which had become warmer and softer."
In the women's event the first run was held already. Renate Gietl (ITA) took the lead ahead of Ekatharina Lavretjeva (RUS) and Evelin Lanthaler (ITA).
Final Results Doubles (11):
1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA), 1:06,48(1), 1:06,74(1), 2:13,22
2. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:06,82(2), 1:07,36(2), 2:14,18
3. Christian SCHOPF/Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:07,19(3), 1:07,61(3), 2:14,80
Once again the elite of Natural Track racers will meet in South Tyrol in Italy before there will be a two week's break in which their colleagues on artificial track luge will fight for Olympic medals in Vancouver. The season final will be held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER) at the end February. Some of the seemingly assigned roles have changed during the season. In the doubles' event Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) are still racing in their own league. Only the crash in the second race in Russia could interrupt their dominance. Save this one exception Pigneter/Clara have never been ranked worse than second within 17 races.
In the Women's category Renate Gietl (ITA) is back on winning track and with Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) there are also Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) and Melanie Batkowski (AUT). This means there is an additional contender for the three podium spots.
In the Men's event it seems like a bunch of youngsters have finally managed to crack the superiority of Patrick Pigneter (ITA). At the beginning of the season Thomas Schopf (AUT) managed to beat the serial winner, recently Italian fellows Hannes Clara, Rudi Resch and Alex Gruber have become serious opponents.
Of course there is another Italian who should never be underestimated: Anton Blasbichler. He will celebrate a special anniversary in Latzfons, he will participate in his 100th World Cup race. The World Cup Series itself only celebrated its 100th race a few weeks ago, so Blasbichler missed exactly two world cups within 18 years. He won his first race in Moscow in 1994 and to now has earned 20 First Place finishes, which makes him the most successful athlete, followed by Gerhard Pilz (AUT) with 18 and Patrick Pigneter with 16 wins. With his most recent bronze medal in the European Championships two weeks ago, Blasbichler demonstrated that in his 19th world cup season he is "still good" for a podium finish.
The aqotec World Cup in Latzfons will be started with training runs on Friday, followed by the competitions runs in the doubles' race and one women's competition run on Saturday. It will be completed on Sunday with the singles' decisions.
Canada's much loved Rick Mercer was in Rossland, British Columbia for the 113th Annual Rossland Winter Carnival. There he met up with the "Rossland Radicals" to receive a lesson on Natural Luge.
Rick gave it a good try and seemed to have a great time. Click on the link to watch his antics...
Apologies. The information posted in the last update was not 100% accurate. Kaj's third place finish marks the first ever Canadian MEN's podium finish in an Intercontinental Cup. Melissa Jones finished in third place on January 19, 2003 in Jesenice, Slovenia.
