Altenberg (pps) Germany`s Sylke Otto, U.S.A.`s Tony Benshoof and Austria`s Andreas Linger/Wolfgang Linger, doubles, have won the first race of Krombacher-Challenge-Cup in Altenberg (Germany).

Tony Benshoof realized the first victory for U.S.A. in challenge ever in 54,618 seconds followed Markus Kleinheinz (54,683) from Austria and Italy`s World Champion Armin Zöggeler (54,707). Jan Eichhorn (54,937) was with rank fourth the best german competitor. Georg Hackl (Germany) was eliminated in the semi-final by Italy´s Wilfried Huber and ranked seventh in the overall standings.

Defending Challenge Cup champion Sylke Otto won the women`s race in 53,856 seconds followed by her teammate Anke Wischnewski (53,932) and Latvia`s Anna Orlova (54,069).
Linger/Linger realized the victory in 42,544 seconds. Second and third place went to Italy`s Gerhard Plankensteiner/Oswald Haselrieder (42,602) and Christian Oberstolz/Patrick Gruber (42,626).