OBDACH-WINTERLEITEN. From February 9th to 11th 2018, the 27th FIL European Championships on Luge on Natural Track take place in Obdach-Winterleiten, Styria (AUT). 42 men, 25 women, and 16 doubles have registered for the races, 18 nations are represented.
On Saturday, February 10th, the first competition runs of all categories were held, and the medal winners of the doubles’ event were determined.

At the doubles’ event, Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) were able to defend their title and won the gold medal. The Italians, who had delivered the best times in both competition runs and eventually had been 34 hundredths faster than runner-ups Rupert Brüggler/Tobias Angerer (AUT), were happy about the outcome of the race, but did not forget to mention the tough competition in Obdach-Winterleiten. “It has not been easy for us today because Brüggler and Angerer were extremely strong – from the beginning, they performed very well,” Pigneter said after the race. “We knew that we had to give everything we had, otherwise we wouldn’t have had the slightest chance.” Clara shared the opinion of his partner: “After the trainings runs, we had to attack and go to the limit. But everything went well for us, we haven’t made any mistakes, and now we’re of course very happy.” With the successful title defence in Styria, the Italians had a perfect dress rehearsal for the World Cup finals in Umhausen (AUT), where they are also considered the favorites. “Now we are looking forward positively to Umhausen, and we want so show another good performance there,” Pigneter said.

The same goes for Brüggler/Angerer, who had adapted to the conditions of the track in Obdach-Winterleiten very well and were the fastest pairing in both training runs. “Right from the start, everything went well for us. Our equipment was perfectly adjusted, so we could focus entirely on our runs,” Brüggler explained, while Angerer added: “We haven’t made any big mistakes, both our runs were nearly perfect. But the Italians just were the best today, and they absolutely deserved to win here.”
The bronze medal was claimed by the Russians Aleksandr Egorov/Petr Popov, who were able to outpace their teammates Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev and to secure the third rank. However, they were more than one and a half seconds slower than the victorious Italians.

The first competition run of the men was a close race. In the end, the Austrian Thomas Kammerlander ranked first: With a time of 1:12.00 minutes, the title defender kept his toughest rivals Alex Gruber (ITA) and Patrick Pigneter (ITA) at bay. His lead over his Italian competitors, however, are only 17 and 53 hundredths, respectively. Florian Clara (ITA) and Florian Glatzl (AUT) still have a good chance to win a medal as well: They ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, and were only a few hundredths slower than the leading Austrian (+0.58 and +0.62, respectively).

At the women’s event, two Italian athletes dominated the first competition run, but Evelin Lanthaler managed to rank first eventually: She finished with a time of 1:13.65 minutes and therefore was 49 hundredths faster than her teammate and runner-up Greta Pinggera. Sara Bachmann (GER) came in third, nearly one and a half seconds behind Lanthaler. Aside from Bachmann, there are several other athletes who still are in reach of a medal and lie very close together – among them Daniela Mittermair (ITA) and Lisa Walch (GER), who had ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.

On Sunday, February 11th 2018, the 27th FIL European Championships will find an end with the final runs of the women and the men as well as with the team competition.

Results:
http://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/27th-fil-european-championchips-on-luge-on-natural-track