First World Cup Victory for PolandLike their famous Polish fellow Adam Malysz, the doubleseaters Andrzej Laszczak and Damian Waniczek controlled the field and won their first World Cup race. "We have been training on ice this year already and even one day here in Olang/Valdaora" the happy winners explained after the race. "This track here in Olang/Valdaora is a little bit like our home track and we enjoy racing here a lot." Considering that they already won the bronze medal in the World Championships two years ago in Olang/Valdaora proves that true.A personal victory celebrated Reinhard Beer from Austria, who gave his comeback after his serious elbow injury suffered in the World Championships in Stein/Enns last season. "I have trained really hard for that, with therapy and other training, but today was my very first time back on snow." What a comeback: Reinhard Beer and Herbert Kögl came in second.But the fastest time of the day was reached by the Italian brothers Armin and David Mair, just because of a damaged sledge in the first run, they had to be satisfied with the 5th place in the final ranking.Tomorrow, Saturday, the single seaters will open their World Cup season. Today´s trainig runs were used as the internal qualification of the Austrians. Another long term injured star gave her comeback: Elvira Holzknecht, two times Overall World Cup Winner and World Champion of 1996 returned after her one year´s break due to a fractured ankle. Even though her team mate Sandra Mariner was faster than Holzknecht, she had no problems to qualify for the team. In the men´s team Gernot Schwab won the internal qualifiacation.Final Results Doubleseater:1. Andrezej LAZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK, 1:14,48 (1), 1:15,08 (2), 2:29,562. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT), 1:15,11 (2), 1:15,15 (3), 2:30,263. Harald KLEINHOFER/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 1:15,53 (4), 1:15,35 (4), 2:30,884. Eddy PERRIN/Emanuele GIANNELLI (ITA), 1:15,72 (5), 1:15,35 (4), 2:31,075. Armin MAIR/David MAIR (ITA), 1:16,89 (7), 1:14,21 (1), 2:31,106. Denis ALIMOV/Roman MOLVISTOV (RUS), 1:15,96 (6), 1:15,97 (6), 2:31,937. Wolfgang SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:15,48 (3), 1:17,35 (8), 2:32,83
