Umhausen - The first ones to win gold medals in the 2006 European Championships were the Russians Pawel Porschnev and Ivan Lazarev who defended their title from Hüttau 2004. Already in the lead after the first run they achieved the fastest times in nearly all intermediate and sequence times and in the final sum up they won by a 1,46 second winning margin. Hüttau´s silver medallists Denis Alimov and Roman Molvistov had to settle for bronze today, but alltogether the Russian team once again impressed with a strong performance. “The World Cup is not so important in Russia. Back home it´s the medals in the Championships which count. This is the basis for the funding for the federation as well as the athletes. That´s why the European Championships are the highlight in our planning and the athletes have really worked hard for it”, explains Andrey Knyr, head coach of the Russian team.
The silver medal went to the rookie team of the season: Austria´s Christian Schatz and Gerhard Mühlbacher. Having won bronze with his former partner Harald Kleinhofer in the World Championships in 2003 Mühlbacher already had a major event medal in his pocket. “I am sure the pressure would have been worse without that 2003 medal, but none the less, major events are always different, more difficult than a World Cup race and especially in a season which had gone so well as this one has, I wanted to win a medal”, said Mühlbacher. After the first run Schopf/Schopf (AUT) were just two hundredths of a second behind the eventual silver medallists, but the Schopf brothers completely messed up their second run. “I heard their time before I went into the track”, said Mühlbacher, “but I also knew that Leitner/Weiss had an excellent second run. I do not mind hearing the other´s times at the start, just the other way round, I even like it, it gives me an additional motivation.” More than happy was also Christian Schatz who seems to have a winning streak in his very first season as a doubleseater. “I really enjoy it. Sure I have been a bit nervous, but that´s part of every race. A major event is of course different and it is very special to win a medal here.” Christian Schatz did not have too high expectations when he first got the call from Gerhard Mühlbacher to become his partner: “I thought I would give it a try, there is nothing to lose. Then it went really well from the beginning and it was in Kindberg two weeks ago when we had two perfect runs and won the race that I realized that we really can play amongst the best.”
Italy´s Renate Gietl dominated the second run in the women´s event. Ranked third after the first run she took the lead after an excellent performance in the night run on Saturday evening. “We Italians had planned a full attack and I think we did quite well. There were just narrow time margins among the top people after the first run,” said Gietl, who also kept her fingers crossed for her team mates including silver medallist in last year´s Junior World Championships, Imelda Gruber. She had been in the lead after the first run, is runner up in the ranking after two runs. “I am so happy”, said the young Italian, “normally I am not that good, but I like the track, the material suits perfectly and I really feel very well.” Another junior racer is a medal contender as well. Austria´s team World Champion Melanie Batkowski knows that she could win a medal: “The Italians are very strong, but within reach. Renate Gietl really likes this track, so it will be very hard to beat her, but it should be possible to finish on the podium.” The Russian Ekatharina Lavrenjeva, unbeaten in the current World Cup season, is ranked fifth after two runs: “I do not like this track very much, I have tried a lot but not yet found the right recipe, but I still hope for the third run. A medal is still possible,” she said.
In the men´s competition Austria´s Gernot Schwab could not only maintain his position at the top but also build up his leading margin to more than one second – which makes him the top contender for the gold medal. Gernot Schwab is well aware of his role, but does not let any potential pressure subdue his joy about two really good runs. “My sled has been damaged in the World Cup last weekend, so in the training runs I was still trying to find the right settings and felt a bit insecure. But now after these great runs I have regained all my confidence”, the sports student said. His strongest competitor in tomorrow´s final run will be his team mate Thomas Schopf, who has been the man of surprise in the training runs already and prolonged his good performance in the race. The ranks two to seven are taken by the Italian team of which Patrick Pigneter, Andreas Castiglioni and Florian Breitenberger share one goal: to win a medal.
Austria´s five times World Champion and still reigning European Champion Gerhard Pilz is still suffering from his rib injuries of earlier this season: “I still can´t race without pain. I was the title defender and I owe it to the organizers to be here, but after this race I will take a break until I am fully recovered. There is no point in competing in my condition”, he said, ranked 13th after two runs.
Tomorrow, Sunday, the competition will be continued at 10am.
Final results double seaters:
1. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:21,87(1), 1:21,75(1), 2:43,62 2. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 1:22,46(2), 1:22,62(2), 2:45.08 3. Denis ALIMOV/Roman MOLVISTOV (RUS), 1:22,63(4), 1:22,85(4), 2:45,48 4. Andreas LEITNER/Thomas WEISS (ITA), 1:23,26(6), 1:22,66(3), 2:45,92 5. Günther INNERBICHLER/Johannes HOFER (ITA), 1:22,86(5), 1:23,11(5), 2:45,97 6. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:22,48(3), 1:23,67(8), 2:46,15 7. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT), 1:23,31 (7), 1:23,46(6), 2:46,77 8. Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV (RUS), 1:23,64(8), 1:23,56(7), 2:46,20 9. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:23,91(9), 1:23,70(9), 2:47,61 10. Christof KNAUDER/THOMAS KNAUDER (AUT), 1:24,75(10), 1:24,73(10), 2:49,48
Rankings after two out of three runs:
Women (21): 1. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:18,41(3), 1:18,78(1), 2. Imelda GRUBER (ITA), 1:18,16(1), 1:19,26(3), 3. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:18,73(4), 1:18,83(2), 4. Christa GIETL (ITA), 1:18,27(2), 1:19,58(5), 5. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:18,79(5), 1:19,51(4), 6. Sabine KOGLER (AUT), 1:19,39(6), 1:20,10(7), 7. Tamara SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:19,99(10), 1:19,68(6), 8. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:19,86(8), 1:20,16(8), 9. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:19,72(7), 1:20,58(10), 10. Michaela MAURER (GER), 1:20,05(11), 1:20,32(9), 11. Anna BRAUN (AUT), 1:19,89(9), 1:20,68(11), 12. Julia VETLOVA (RUS), 1:20,36(12), 1:21,26(12),
Men (43): 1. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1:17,05(1), 1:17,05(1), 2. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:17,56(2), 1:17,74(5), 3. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:17,77(3), 1:17,67(2), 4. Andreas CASTIGLIONI (ITA), 1:17,80(4), 1:17,72(4), 5. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA), 1:17,98(5), 1:17,69(3), 6. Martin PSENNER (ITA), 1:18,13(8), 1:18,10(7), 7. Christian SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:18,07(6), 1:18,22(8), 8. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:18,34(9), 1:18,01(6), 9. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:18,10(7), 1:18,45(10), 10. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:18,59(12), 1:18,60(12), 11. Florian BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:18,50(11), 1:18,75(14), 12. Daniel QUITTA (ITA), 1:18,95(15), 1:18,39(9), 13. Gerhard PILZ (AUT), 1:18,77(13), 1:18,70(13), 14. Philipp WAGNER (AUT), 1:18,43(10), 1:19,19(18), 15. Marcus GRAUSAM (GER), 1:18,84(14), 1:18,79(17), 16. Georg MAURER (GER), 1:18,96(16), 1:18,75(14),
Chris Karl FIL Media Service