Umhausen - Her winning streak started on January 22nd 2005 in Latzfons (ITA) and it ended on February 3rd 2007 in Umhausen. Finally Ekatherina Lavrentjeva (RUS) was beaten. It was Renate Kasslatter (ITA) who had been away for a whole season to have a baby, who had the honours to push Lavrentjeva off the throne. “I still cannot believe it”, she said half an hour after her win, still trying to find the right words. “I thought it has to be here, she did not like the track here at the European Championships, so I thought I had to seize the moment. I was three tenths ahead after the first run, that had to be enough. Still, when I was halfway in my second run I heard the speaker and he did not sound very excited, so I added some more speed. Then I thought the last long stretch of the track would never end. I did not dare to believe I had really won, only when I saw the yellow one in the finish area I started to realize it”. The beaten Russian was not too devastated: “I became second, this is not a bad result. I made too many mistakes in my first run. The second was better, but just not good enough.”

A bit unrewarded was Renate Gietl´s performance: with the fastest time in her second run she made a huge step from the 7th rank to the 3rd. “My third place is like a win, I am so happy that Ekatharina´s streak has been broken. It is good for our self confidence. I am perfectly happy that my team mate has been the one.” Gietl has finished on the podium seven times herself in all the eleven races won by Lavrentjeva, but never managed to beat her.

Eleven athletes were ranked within a one second time margin after the first run in the men´s event. So it was not that surprising that the race ended with a tied result. The surprise was that it was 16-year-old (will be 17 on February 13th) Thomas Kammerlander (AUT) who was one of the winners in his only fourth start in the World Cup. After the first run he was tied with Gerhard Pilz (AUT), but apparently had the nerve to take full risk: “I was a lot more nervous before the first run, before the second run I thought that there is not very much that can go wrong.” With his excellent time in the second run he also challenged part time leader Patrick Pigneter, who had problems with his sled. “I have to get it fixed for the final races, I could feel that I was lacking some of the easiness.” Still, his performance was good enough to share the top spot of the podium with Kammerlander.
Third became once again – like in the morning in the double seaters event – Martin Psenner. “No it is about time that the day is over”, he said. He has competed in all single´s as well as doubleseater´s races this season and had podium finishes in all single´s races and twice in the doubles.
In the double seaters event the scene saw the fourth different winner in four races. Last years overall World Cup winners Christian Schatz/Gerhard Mühlbacher (AUT) celebrated their first season win and the third in their short mutual career. “The World Cup has always been an issue, but you are only entitled to talk about winning it when you have won more than one race. So far each of us has won once in this season”, Gerhard Mühlbacher says as a summary of the situation. They were more than happy about their performance: “If you are not happy on a day with two fastest times, then what is the perfect day to be satisfied? After finishing ninth in the last race, we reconsidered a few things, made some adjustments in our technique, are taking a bit more risk now. It won´t work out so well in all races, but today it did.”

Beer/Kögl (AUT) who came second were satisfied, too: “For us it was a very important step forward. Only the second place today kept us in the loop for the overall World Cup.” Third became the rookies of the year, Martin Psenner/Johannes Hofer. In their first season together they made their second podium finish.

After only three days to recover the World Cup final will be held from February 8th to 10th in Moos/Passeier (ITA) with the World Cups 5 and 6.

Results of Umhausen II:

Doubles (14):
1. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 1:21,56(1), 1:21,09(1), 2:42,65
2. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT), 1:22,53(2), 1:22,05(2), 2:44,58
3. Martin PSENNER/Johannes HOFER (ITA), 1:22,64(3), 1:22,21(3), 2:44,85
4. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:23,12(4), 1:22,50(4), 2:45,62
5. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER), 1:23,41(5), 1:22,98(5), 2:46,39
6. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS), 1:23,73(7), 1:23,07(6), 2:46,80
7. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:23,71(6), 1:24,03(8), 2:47,74
8. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:24,05(8), 1:23,98(7), 2:48,03
9. Thomas WEISS/Andreas LEITER (ITA), 1:24,09(9), 1:24,10(9), 1:24,10(9), 2:48,19
10. Galabin BOTZEV/Chavdar ARSOV (BUL), 1:25,94(10), 1:26,23(12), 2:52,17

Women Singles (18):
1. Renate KASSLATTER (ITA), 1:17,53(1), 1:17,87(3), 2:35,40
2. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:17,89(2), 1:17,83(2), 2:35,72
3. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:19,12(7), 1:17,82(1), 2:36,94
4. Julia VETLOVA (RUS), 1:18,37(3), 1:18,99(6), 2:37,36
5. Barbara ABART (ITA), 1:19,00(6), 1:18,62(4), 2:37,62
6. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:18,87(4), 1:18,95(5), 2:37,82
7. Kinga GAWLAS (POL), 1:18,96(5), 1:19,05(8), 2:38,01
8. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:19,20(8), 1:19,22(9), 2:38,42
9. Michaela MAURER (GER), 1:19,58(9), 1:19,04(7), 2:38,62
10. Oxana ELESINA (RUS), 1:19,67(10), 1:19,27(10), 2:38,94

Men Singles (38):
1. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:16,96(2), 1:16,76(1), 2:33,72
1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:16,72(1), 1:17,00(3), 2:33,72
3. Martin PSENNER (ITA), 1:17,19(6), 1:16,96(2), 2:34,15
4. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:17,14(4), 1:17,04(4), 2:34,18
5. Gerhard PILZ (AUT), 1:16,96(2), 1:17,46(9), 2:34,42
6. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA), 1:17,18(5), 1:17,32(5), 2:34,50
7. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1:17,25(7), 1:17,37(8), 2:34,62
8. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:17,48(10), 1:17,32(5), 2:34,80
9. Florian BATKOWSKI (AUT), 2:34,87
10. Hannes CLARA (ITA), 2:35,24
11. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 2:35,85
12. Marcus GRAUSAM (GER), 2:36,17
20. Julien SCHULTZ (USA), 2:39,14

World Cup rankings (4/6):

Doubles:
1. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 297
2. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT) 290
3. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT) 279
4. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS) 251
5. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 211
6. Martin PSENNER/Johannes HOFER (ITA) 200
7. Denis ALIMOV/Roman MOLVISTOV (RUS) 190
8. Thomas WEISS/Andreas LEITER (ITA) 180
9. Borut KRALJ/Ziga PAGON (SLO) 139
10. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER) 125

Women:
1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 385
4. Renate KASSLATTER (ITA) 287
3. Renate GIETL (ITA) 280
2. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT) 265
5. Julia VETLOVA (RUS) 226
6. Barbara ABART (ITA) 220
7. Marlies WAGNER (AUT) 185
8. Michaela MAURER (GER) 161
9. Kinga GAWLAS (POL) 157
10. Katrin MLADEK (AUT) 124
10. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT) 124

Men:
1. Martin PSENNER (ITA) 325
2. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 307
3. Gerhard PILZ (AUT) 256
4. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT) 241
5. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 214
6. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA) 189
7. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 180
8. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT) 167
9. Mathias RAINER (ITA) 156
10. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA) 152
11. Marcus GRAUSAM (GER) 120
12. Georg MAURER (GER) 113
23. Julien SCHULTZ (USA) 70
40. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN) 16
43. John GIBSON (CAN) 14
44. Corey PUSEY (CAN) 11

Chris Karl
FIL Media Service