Hüttau was the final station of this year´s Natural Track Luge World Cup. The competition ends with a sensation of Wolfgang and Andreas Schopf (AUT). The young cousins and world champions of Stein/Enns reached the best time after the first run. The world champions of the last year, Armin and David Mair (ITA) had a perfect second run but were two seconds of a hundred behind Wolfgang and Andreas Schopf. So, the young Austrians won their first World Cup 15 points ahead of Armin and David Mair. “We risked a lot and won the title”, told Andreas Schopf after their victory. Now the cousins are highly motivated: “Next year we will defend the title. Furthermore, we will fight for the title of the European Championships”. The Italians Armin and David Mair were not inconvenient to lose the race and congratulated their opponents. “This is the nice thing in Natural Track Luge. The athletes are like a big family”, said the stadium speaker when he saw that friendly scenes.

The spectators along the track awaited the decision of the women´s race full of suspense. The 19-year-old Ekaterina Lavrentjeva (RUS) won the race and her first World Cup. After the best time in the first run the junior world champion – also on the track in Hüttau two years ago – just needed the fourth time to win the race half a second ahead of Sonja Steinacher. The this year´s world champion reached the eleventh time in the first run. A sensational second run did not help Sonja Steinacher to win the race in Hüttau and the World Cup. “I have to be glad with that result because I lost a lot of time in the first run. There were no big mistakes, maybe the material was not the best because the temperature was higher than on yesterday´s training”, told Sonja Steinacher who won the World Cup two times before.

Sandra Mariner (AUT) reached the ninth place but held her third position in World Cup ahead of the young Russian athlete Ljubov Panjutina and Marlies Wagner (AUT) who reached the fourth place in Hüttau.


Ranking women:

1. Ekaterina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 1:03.69 (1), 1:04.66 (4), 2:08.35
2. Sonja STEINACHER (ITA) 1:05.16 (11), 1:03.73 (1), 2:08.89
3. Ljubov PANJUTINA (RUS) 1:04.36 (3), 1:04.61 (3), 2:08.97
4. Marlies WAGNER (AUT) 1:04.88 (8), 1:04.20 (2), 2:09.08
5. Sabine KOGLER (AUT) 1:04.65 (4), 1:04.70 (5), 2:09.35
6. Sandra SCHOPF (AUT) 1:04.25 (2), 1:05.31 (9), 2:09.56


Ranking World Cup women:

1. Ekaterina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 425 points
2. Sonja STEINACHER (ITA) 415
3. Sandra MARINER (AUT) 349
4. Ljubov PANJUTINA (RUS) 304
5. Marlies WAGNER (AUT) 302
6. Sabine KOGLER (AUT) 252
7. Sandra SCHOPF (AUT) 176
8. Simona MARTIN (AUT) 162
9. Irene MITTERSTIELER (ITA) 161
10. Julia VETLOVA (RUS) 136


Ranking men´s doubleseater:

1. Wolfgang SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 1:06.74 (1), 1:07.11 (2), 2:13.85
2. Armin MAIR/David MAIR (ITA) 1:07.17 (2), 1:06.70 (1), 2:13.87
3. Denis ALIMOV/Roman MOLVISTOV (RUS) 1:07.32 (3), 1:07.15 (3), 2:14.47
4. H. KLEINHOFER/G. MÜHLBACHER (AUT) 1:07.58 (5), 1:07.15 (3), 2:14.73
5. Peter LECHNER/Peter BRAUNEGGER (AUT) 1:07.47 (4), 1:07.35 (5), 2:14.82
6. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 1:07.58 (5), 1:07.94 (6), 2:15:52


Ranking World Cup men´s doubleseater:

1. Wolfgang SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 385 points
2. Armin MAIR/David MAIR (ITA) 370
3. Peter LECHNER/Peter BRAUNEGGER (AUT) 285
4. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT) 240
5. Denis ALIMOV/Roman MOLVISTOV (RUS) 225
6. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 206



Michael Unverdorben
FIL Media Service