KÜHTAI. On Sunday, December 3rd, the final runs of the men’s, the women’s, and the doubles’ event of the GRM Group World Cup in Kühtai (AUT) were executed in the presence of FIL representative Natalia Gart and Peter Knauseder, FIL Vice President for Natural Track. Furthermore, two high ranking officials of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) also attended the races: Since the FIL had decided to apply for Natural Track Luge to be included in the official program of the Olympic Winter Games 2022 in Beijing, Kristin Brynildsen and Ansley O’Neal were in Kühtai to gather impressions and to gain deeper insight into the sport.

At the men’s event, Thomas Kammerlander (AUT), the winner of last season’s overall standings, proved that he aims to play a crucial role in this World Cup season, too – after ranking second in the first competition run, the Austrian eventually outpaced his Italian rivals Patrick Pigneter and Alex Gruber, and was more than relieved after the race: “The track was technically difficult, and after the first run I was under a bit of pressure. But now I’m happy that I was able to start in this new season with a victory – especially because it was at home,” said the local hero, who was delighted not only with the outcome of the race but also with the support of the fans in Kühtai. Pigneter came in second with a gap of 21 hundredths, and he, in turn, was only four hundredths faster than his teammate Gruber.

The women’s event was also a close race: In the end, only three hundredths separated the victorious Italian Greta Pinggera and runner-up Tina Unterberger (AUT): “Kühtai is always a special challenge for me, the track doesn’t quite fit my racing style,” explained the Italian, who had won the World Cup as well as the World Championships last season. “This time, it was again not easy for me here, in training I was way behind. But eventually we managed to get rid of the problems. In addition to that, luck was on my side today,” said Pinggera and thereby pointed out the small gap between her and Unterberger, who had to be content with the second rank in Kühtai this year. Pinggeras teammate Evelin Lanthaler, who had ranked fifth after the first competition run, was able to improve herself in the final run and came in third.

At the doubles’ event, Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) let no doubt that they want to get back to the top: The Italians, who had ranked second in last season’s overall standings, dominated not only the training runs in Kühtai, but also the competition runs. In the end, they had a lead of more than a second ahead of runner-ups Rupert Brüggler/Tobias Angerer (AUT). For obvious reasons, Clara was happy after the race: “Everything went well. We already had a good feeling in the training, so we were pretty relaxed in the final run. The extensive training apparently paid off,” said the Italian, who expects a thrilling season. Apart from the World Champions Brüggler/Angerer, the reigning World Cup Champions Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev (RUS) in particular will probably give Pigneter/Clara a hard time in the next races. In Kühtai, however, the Russians came in third with a time of 1:07.85 minutes.

At the team competition, the Italian squad with Alex Gruber, Greta Pinggera and Pigneter/Clara was victorious, followed by Austria with Thomas Kammerlander, Tina Unterberger, and Brüggler/Angerer. The Russian team with Aleksandr Egorov, Daria Maleeva, and Porshnev/Lazarev came in third.

At the Nations’ Cup of the men, Fabian Achenrainer (AUT) won the race ahead of Florian Breitenberger (ITA) and Bernd Neurauter (AUT). Berina Mustic (BIH), Tamara Fissore (ARG), and Zerina Mustic (BIH) stood on the podium of the women’s Nations’ Cup.

The next event of the GRM Group World Cup 2017/2018 will be held in the Italian town of Latzfons/Lazfons, where the races will take place from January 5th to 7th 2018.

Results:
http://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/grm-group-luge-world-cup-on-natural-track-5