Pilz and Steinacher winning again
"Not perfect runs, but good enough runs", said double winner Gerhard Pilz (AUT) after his very successful weekend in Olang/Valdaora. Obviousely good enough, as he had reached the fastest times in both races. "It will be very thrilling", he already knew yesterday evening after the night run at floodlight, "as the first seven athletes are close enough together to fight for the first place." That in the end it was him, who was the luckiest and ended up only three hundreds of a second ahead of reigning World Champion Anton Blasbichler (ITA), he did not mind. Very pleased was also Ferdinand Hirzegger (AUT), who ended up third. "I am not very good at flat tracks as this one is, so I am very happy that I have not lost too many points here in Valdaora. Just the other way round, with a fourth and a third place I am very satisfied."In her own league was once again Sonja Steinacher (ITA). "I do not know what I do differently than the others," she says, smiling and laughing as always. But then adds: "When I was here for training at the beginning of the week, I had major problems. So I had to do something. I have a new sledge, so I changes a lot of the fixings and it seems like I did it right." Next to her on the podium were found Ekaterina Lavrentjeva (RUS) and Sandra Mariner (AUT), who races just for fun, as she says. "I already wanted to quit my carreer, so what I do now is because I enjoy the sport. But of course I am happy about every medal I win."In the double seaters race the Italian brothers Armin and David Mair gave a clear lifesign. "We had a damaged sledge in the first race, due to a stone, but this race today was more the way we want it," says Armin, grinning. They had the fastest times in both runs. Still, the lead in the World Cup have the Polish winners of the first World Cup, Andrzej Lasczcak and Damian Waniczek. They became second and proved that their first World Cup victory was for sure no coincidence.Now, after two World Cup races, the whole group moves on to Triesenberg inLiechtenstein, where the first parallel event in the World Cup will be held. Some athletes are looking forward (Gerhard Pilz: "It is something very different and demands different qualities"), some are dreading it a little bit (Sonja Steinacher: "I don´t like this kind of event very much, just good that I collected maximum points here in Valdaora"). Who knows, maybe it will show different winners again.
Results 2nd RED BULL World Cup:
Womens´ Singleseaters:
1. Sonja STEINACHER (ITA), 1:10,05 (1), 1:09,96 (2), 2:20,01
2. Ekaterina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:10,63 (2), 1:09,94 (1), 2:20,57
3. Sandra MARINER (AUT), 1:10,88 (4), 1:10,58 (3), 2:21,46
4. Christa GIETL (ITA), 1:11,34 (6), 1:10,64 (4), 2:21,98
5. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:10,83 (3), 1:11,45 (7), 2:22,28
6. Irene MITTERSTIELER (ITA), 1:11,45 (7), 1:10,97 (5), 2:22,42
7. Elvira HOLZKNECHT (AUT), 1:11,28 (5), 1:11,47 (8), 2:22,75
8. Julia VETLOVA (RUS), 1:11,78 (8), 1:11,21 (6), 2:22,99
Mens´ Singleseater:
1. Gerhard PILZ (AUT), 1:08,88 (5), 1:08,38 (1), 2:17,26
2. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:08,84 (4), 1:08,45 (2), 2:17,29
3. Ferdinand HIRZEGGER (AUT), 1:08,90 (6), 1:08,55 (4), 2:17,45
4. Daniele PIEILLER (ITA), 1:08,66 (1), 1:09,11 (8), 2:17,77
5. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1:09,02 (7), 1:08,83 (6), 2:17,85
6. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA), 1:08,74 (2), 1:09,22 (9), 2:17,96
7. Gerald KALLAN (AUT), 1:08,81 (3), 1:09,28 (10), 2:18,09
8. Daniel QUITTA (ITA), 1:09,50 (8), 1:08,83 (6), 2:18,33
9. Roland KALLAN (AUT), 1:09,76 (10), 1:08,62 (5), 2:18,38
10. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:10,09 (11), 1:08,46 (3), 2:18,55
11. Martin PSENNER (ITA), 1:09,61 (9), 1:09,64 (11), 2:19,25
12. Marcus GRAUSAM (GER), 1:10,77 (12), 1:09,83 (12), 2:20,60
Mens´ Doubleseaters:
1. Armin MAIR/David MAIR (ITA), 1:13,63 (1), 1:14,17 (1), 2:27,80
2. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:14,15 (2), 1:14,75 (3), 2:28,90
3. Harald KLEINHOFER/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 1:15,04 (3), 1:14,55 (2), 2:29,59
4. Eddy PERRIN/Emanuele GIANNELLI (ITA),
5. Wolfgang SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:16,02 (6), 1:15,09 (5), 2:31,11
6. Waldemar SIAKALA/Krysztof URBANIEC (POL), 1:19,03 (9), 1:19,23 (6), 2:38,26
RED BULL World Cup Standings:
Women´s Singleseaters:
1. Sonja STEINACHER (ITA) 200 Points
2. Ekaterina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 170
3. Sandra MARINER (AUT) 125
4. Christa GIETL (ITA) 130
5. Renate GIETL (ITA) 105
6. Irene MITTERSTIELER (ITA) 110
7. Elvira HOLZKNECHT (AUT) 92
8. Julia VETLOVA (RUS) 84
Men´s Singleseaters:
1. Gerhard PILZ (AUT) 200
2. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA) 131
2. Gerald KALLAN (AUT) 131
4. Ferdinand HIRZEGGER (AUT) 130
5. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT) 125
6. Daniele PIEILLER (ITA) 102
7. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA) 100
8. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT) 91
9. Daniel QUITTA (ITA) 81
10. Roland KALLAN (AUT) 71
11. Marcus GRAUSAM (GER) 66
12. Gasper BENEDIK (SLO) 56
Men´s Doubleseaters:
1. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 185
2. Armin MAIR/David MAIR (ITA) 155
3. Harald KLEINHOFER/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT) 140
4. Eddy PERRIN/Emanuele GIANNELLI (ITA) 120
5. Wolfgang SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 101
6. Waldemar SIAKALA/Krysztof URBANIEC (POL) 89
7. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT) 85
