After a very intense start of the RED BULL World Cup in December, it will be continued now in Umhausen in Austria. The World Cup leader Gerhard Pilz (AUT) expects a very tight race at the ?Grantau? track: ?We all know the track, the weather is very stable, there won´t be any surprises. Therefore I believe that the time differences will be very close.? Like it was last year, when the race was decided by hundredths of seconds. Finally Gerhard Pilz was the lucky winner whereas Ferdinand Hirzegger left Umhausen as the holder of the track record. ?I go there with the goal to win?, says Pilz, but also adds that he ?won´t have a problem, if the right ones are ahead of me.? Thinking of Robert Batkowski for example. ?I know that he is very good on this track and he is also ready for a World Cup victory.?But not only in the men´s event it will be a tight competition. In the double seater´s ranking the first three are devided by only 25 points. Not among them are last year´s shooting starts Andreas and Wolfgang Schopf. It was in Umhausen last year when they became third in their very first World Cup start and then won whatever there is to win. But this year they are still a little bit behind their own expections.Sonja Steinacher has so far been racing in her own league. She has won three out of three races, but still does not want to relax. ?Last year I have lost the World Cup in the very last race, so there is no guarantee for this year either,? says the postwoman from Italy. For sure she has to be aware of Elvira Holzknecht becoming stronger again. At the beginning of the season she was still suffering from her last year´s injury, but became better race by race. Umhausen is her hometrack and Holzknecht for sure wants to come back to old strength.

Program:

Friday, January 11th 2002:from 10:30h: Training runs

Saturday, January 12th 2002:09:00h: 1st competition run doubles and women10:30h: 2nd competition run doubles and womenfrom 12:00h: Training runs

Sunday, January 13th 2002:09:00h: 1st competition run men ca. 11:00h: 2nd competition run men

The track ?Grantau?:

Length of track: 1004mDifference in altitude: 120mMinimum gradient: 3%Maximum gradient: 18%Average gradient: 11,66%

World Cup Rankings:

Women Singleseater:

1. Sonja STEINACHER (ITA), 300 Points2. Ekaterina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 2403. Sandra MARINER (AUT), 2104. Christa GIETL (ITA), 1695. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1606. Elvira HOLZKNECHT (AUT), 1527. Julia VETLOVA (RUS), 1268. Irene MITTERSTIELER (ITA), 110

Men Singleseater:

1. Gerhard PILZ (AUT), 250 Punkte2. Ferdinand HIRZEGGER (AUT), 2303. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 2014. Gerald KALLAN (AUT), 1865. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1766. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1677. Roland KALLAN (AUT), 1318. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA), 123

Men Doubleseater:

1. Armin MAIR/David MAIR (ITA), 2551. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 2553. Harald KLEINHOFER/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 2254. Wolfgang SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1565. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT), 1456. Eddy PERRIN/Emanuele GIANNELLI (ITA), 120

ckInfostrada SportsFIL Media Service