Moos/Passeier - Christian Schatz/Gerhard Mühlbacher (AUT) were the ones to celebrate a second season win in the double seater event. So far there had been four different winners in the four races. Schatz/Mühlbacher could improve their performance compared to the training runs and based their win on a nearly perfect first run. “We had some small mistaked in the second run, but altogether it was good enough”, said Mühlbacher. “We were encouraged after our win in Umhausen and knew that we are on the right way. And the fact that we are close to the decision in the overall World Cup mobilizes some extra energy. We made a huge step towards the overall World Cup today, but we will need another great performance tomorrow.” Today´s runners up, the Russians Pawel Porschnev/Ivan Lazarev are still in the lead in the World Cup, but only three points ahead of the Austrians. Third became Aleksandr Egorov/Petr Popov.

The Russian superstar Ekatharina Lavrentjeva did not only win the race in Moos/Passeier, but also made clear that the overall World Cup is hers once again. So she can focus on her next goal already: the upcoming World Championships. Second became Renate Gietl (ITA) who managed to jump on the podium with an excellent second run. She was happy about her second place, but also feels a bit irritated: „Renate Kasslatter has shown that Lavrentjeva can be beaten and still we are eternities away. But we will go on chasing her. In the next race, next season, whenever.” Third became Barbara Abart (ITA), who was happy to be back on top: “I did not race last season so it took me a while to make my way back to the top class. Now my podium finish came just in time as it was my qualification for the World Championships”, she said.
Whereas in the women´s event the Overall World Cup has been decided already, the men´s decision will be in the very last race of the season. But with his fourth season win Patrick Pigneter (ITA) made it pretty clear that he will be the men to beat. Even though he suffered from a bad cold and had to take medication between the first and the second run, nobody could beat him in Passeier. With the fastest times in both runs he claimed his sixth career win. “In the morning I would not have thought that I would be able to do two good runs. But I think it is because of the hard training I did in summer, so I think that I have a very good physical basis”, he said. He also got compliments from runner up Gerhard Pilz (AUT): “It is certainly remarkable that he can achieve a track record even when he is under pressure. I had two good runs myself, it was Patricks achievement to be better and beat me.” Third finished Florian Breitenberger (ITA) who was more than happy to be back on the podium after year of troubles: “I am very happy about my result, especially here on a track which does not allow any mistakes. I am happy that I managed to qualify for the World Championships in the last moment.”

Results 5th World Cup in Passeier:

Doubleseaters (17):
1. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT) 59.16(1), 59.75(2) 1:58.91
2. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 59.63(3), 59.58(1) 1:59.21
3. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS) 59.76(4), 59,84(3) 1:59.60
4. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT) 59.62(2), 1:00.28(6) 1:59,90
5. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 1:00.10(6), 59,93(4) 2:00.03
6. Martin PSENNER/Johannes HOFER (ITA) 1:00.32(8), 1:00.05(5) 2:00.37
7. Denis ALIMOV/Roman MOLVISTOV (RUS) 1:00.16(7), 1:00.30(7) 2:00.46
8. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 59.80(5), 1:00.89(10) 2:00.69
9. Thomas WEISS/Andreas LEITER (ITA) 1:01.00(10), 1:00.50(8) 2:01.50
10. Björn KIRSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER) 1:00.91(9), 1:00.69(9) 2:01.60

Women Singles (20):
1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 56.29(1), 56.67(1) 1:52.96
2. Renate GIETL (ITA) 57.15(4), 57.35(2) 1:54,50
3. Barbara ABART (ITA) 57.35(6), 57.66(3) 1:55.01
4. Renate KASSLATTER (ITA) 57.06(3), 57.97(5) 1:55.03
5. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT) 57.16(5), 58.18(6) 1:55.34
6. Kinga GAWLAS (POL) 57.67(8), 57.95(4) 1:55.62
7. Julia VETLOVA (RUS) 57.05(2), 58.66(9) 1:55.71
8. Michaela MAURER (GER) 57.51(7), 58.28(7) 1:55.79
9. Tamara Schwarz (ITA) 58.29(10), 58.29(8) 1:56.58
10. Tina Unterberger (AUT) 58.17(9), 59.24(13) 1:57.41

Men Singles (41):
1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 55.50(1), 54.99(1) 1:50.49
2. Gerhard PILZ (AUT) 55.65(2), 55.53(2) 1:51.18
3. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA) 56.05(4), 55.97(3) 1:52.02
4. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT) 56.14(6), 56.02(4) 1:52.16
5. Martin PSENNER (ITA) 56.13(5), 56.15(5) 1:52.28
6. Hannes CLARA (ITA) 56.02(3), 56.38(7) 1:52.40
7. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA) 56.38(8), 56.34(6) 1:52.72
8. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 56.21(7), 56.57(9) 1:52.78
9. Ziga PAGON (SLO) 56.65(10), 56.56(8) 1:53.21
10. Florian BATKOWSKI (AUT) 56.68(11), 56.59(10) 1:53.27
13. Georg MAURER (GER) 56,76(13), 56.88(13) 1:53.64
15. Marcus GRAUSAM (GER) 56,95(15), 57.12(14) 1:54.07
16. Christian WICHAN (GER) 57.08(16), 57.66(18) 1:54.74
17. Björn KIERSPEL (GER) 57,35(17), 57.43(16) 1:54.78
20. Julien SCHULTZ (USA) 58.13(20), 58.20(19) 1:56.33

World Cup Rankings (5/6):

Doubles:
1. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 382
2. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT) 379
3. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT) 350
4. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS) 321
5. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 253
6. Martin PSENNER/Johannes Hofer (ITA) 250
7. Denis ALIMOV/Roman MOLVISTOV (RUS) 236
8. Thomas WEISS/Andreas LEITER (ITA) 219
9. Borut KRALJ/Ziga PAGON (SLO) 173
10. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER) 161

Women Singles:
1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 485
2. Renate GIETL (ITA) 365
3. Renate KASSLATTER (ITA) 347
4. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT) 320
5. Barbara ABART (ITA) 290
6. Julia VETLOVA (RUS) 272
7. Marlies WAGNER (AUT) 215
8. Kinga GAWLAS (POL) 207
9. Michaela MAURER (GER) 203
10. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT) 160

Men Singles:
1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 407
2. Martin PSENNER (ITA) 380
3. Gerhard PILZ (AUT) 341
4. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT) 301
5. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA) 259
6. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 256
7. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 212
8. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA) 198
9. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT) 195
10. Mathias RAINER (ITA) 190
13. Marcus GRAUSAM (GER) 146
14. Georg MAURER (GER) 143
23. Julien SCHULTZ (USA) 91
42. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN) 16
45. John GIBSON (CAN) 14
46. Corey PUSEY (CAN) 11

ck/eth
FIL Media Service