Renate Gietl (ITA) rest of the field
Alex Gruber (ITA) has won the title of the European Junior Champion one week ago and it seems that he wants to keep the top spot on the podium. In a very selective race, difficult because of the warm weather, he celebrated his first career world cup win. “It was awfully difficult”, said the student at the Mals Sport School, “I took full risk in the second run. I had nothing to lose, I tried not to brake and it worked out fine. I also had some information about the condition of the track and that has helped me, too.”
Only four hundredths of a second behind him finished Austria’s Gernot Schwab. For him this podium finish has a special meaning: “I was not even in the team any more. I had top three results earlier in the season and suddenly I had to go through the internal qualification or race in the IC Cup. This is my answer today”, said the Austrian, for whom the second place felt like “Christmas, Easter and birthday at the same time”. His nomination in Unterammergau was only due to an unlucky incident: “Without Thomas Kammerlander being injured I would not have started here. I wish him all the best and I hope he will be back soon as he is one of the core members of the team.” Gernot Schwab had been dealing with problems with his equipment and decided to change the brand of his sled during the season: “I used a sams sled which is an excellent product, but I just did not know how to handle it well. I owe thanks to the Torggler company who provided me with a brand new sled within four days. For me today is the best day in this season. I do not belong in the IC-Cup. I already established myself in the world cup and proved that once again today. Everybody can have problems and should not be given up upon so easily.”
Anton Blasbichler (ITA) achieved his 50th career podium finish with his third place. “I am satisfied with my performance. The track had some holes at the end and luck started to play a little bit more of a role, but I want to congratulate the organizers that they provided such a good track under these weather conditions.”
Patrick Pigneter (ITA) had to settle for a fifth place, but this was all he needed to secure his sixth consecutive overall world cup win. Even if Robert Batkowski (AUT) should win in Olang he cannot reach Pigneter’s 440 points.
With a win for the statistic books Renate Gietl (ITA) finished the race in Unterammergau. She claimed her 14th career win and is now Italy’s most successful natural track luger. Sonja Steinacher quit her career with 14 first, 12 second and 12 third places. Renate Gietl stands at 14 wins, 16 second and 12 third places. in today’s race in which most decisions were extremely close and within hundredths of seconds margins, Renate Gietl upset her eternal rival Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) by 1.67 seconds. “I really don’t know how this was possible”, she said. “But at the beginning of the season it was the other way round. I was only looking at the gap between her and me. Then I started to focus on my own strengths and started to use my energy for myself and suddenly I am winning.” The kindergarten teacher is unsure about her future. “I was thinking of maybe ending my career after the world championships. I have to let the season end and then reconsider everything.”
Even though her winning steak was ended today, Ekatharina Lavrentjeva was happy about her performance: “This is the best result I have ever had in Unterammergau. I do not like the soft ice and the track here, so I am totally satisfied.”
Satisfied was also Melanie Batkowski (AUT) who finished third: “It is very difficult to adjust to the track conditions here. You make one tiny mistake and you end far behind. It is rare that we have conditions like this. So all in all I am happy.”
The World Cup Final will be held in Olang (ITA) in two weeks.
Final Results Women (15):
1. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:08,94(1), 1:10,31(1), 2.19,25
2. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:09,85(2), 1:11,07(2), 2:20,92
3. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:09,87(3), 1:11,49(4), 2:21,36
4. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 1:10,44(5), 1:11,32(3), 2:21,76
5. Alexandra OBRIST (ITA), 1:10,26(4), 1:12,21(5), 2:22,47
6. Michaela MAURER (GER), 1:10,88(6), 1:12,28(6), 2:23,16
7. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:11,31(7), 1:12,77(8), 2:24,08
8. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:12,05(9), 1:12,62(7), 2:24,67
9. Katrin MLADEK (AUT), 2:24,79
10. Veronika NACHMANN (GER), 2:25,27
Final Results Men (32):
1. Alex GRUBER (ITA), 1:08,84(2), 1:11,11(4), 2:19,95
2. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1:09,03(6), 1:10,96(2), 2:19,99
3. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:08,90(3), 1:11,10(3), 2:20,00
4. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:09,20(7), 1:10,83(1), 2:20,03
5. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:08,64(1), 1:11,55(9), 2:20,19
6. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:08,91(4), 1:11,59(10), 2:20,50
7. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA), 1:09,25(8), 1:11,38
8. Georg MAURER (GER), 1:09,42(10), 1:11,27(6), 2:20,69
9. Florian CLARA (ITA), 1:09,48(12), 1:11,22(5), 2:20,70
10. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:09,73(14), 1:11,40(8), 2:21,13
World Cup Ranking Women (5/6):
1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 485
2. Renate GIETL (ITA) 395
3. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT) 380
4. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA) 300
5. Marlies WAGNER (AUT) 222
6. Ludmila AKSENENKO (RUS) 203
7. Alexandra OBRIST (ITA) 165
8. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA) 157
9. Veronika NACHMANN (GER) 150
10. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT) 126
World Cup Ranking Men (5/6):
1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 440
2. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT) 334
3. Rudi RESCH (ITA) 278
4. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA) 275
5. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT) 255
6. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT) 241
7. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT) 215
8. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 211
9. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 202
10. Florian CLARA (ITA) 201
11. Juri TALIKH (RUS) 145
12. Björn KIERSPEL (GER) 136
Photos: Hermann Sobe
