Chasing medals at the European Championships on Natural Track at Passeier

Passeier (PMA) - The 26th European Championships on Natural Track of the International Luge Federation (FIL) will be hosted from 5th to 7th February 2016 at Passeier in Italy. It is the second time after they organised the event in 1997. After two runs the medals will be decided. Competitions will be held at men’s and women’s singles and at the doubles event, which is scheduled on Friday. Men’s competition runs are on Saturday and the ladies race on Sunday. The favourites are coming from Italy. Their athletes are leading at the Overall World Cups.

Evelin Lanthaler has won the Overall World Cup at the penultimate round at Deutschnofen. The 24-Year-Old has a special relation to this year’s European Championships. She lives at Passeier Valley. Lanthaler won two medals so far and her older sister Sandra was former athlete and won the gold medal at the European Championships 2002. Her biggest opponent is coming from Russia. Ekaterina Lavrentyeva has won six European titles and is the most successful athlete of natural track with 55 World Cup wins. She has only won one World Cup race this season.

At the men’s competition Patrick Pigneter is the favourite. He won five gold medals at European Championships at the Singles and Doubles competition, partnering Florian Clara. The 28-Year-Old has dominated the World Cup at the last decade. His hardest opponents this season are Alex Gruber from Italy and Thomas Kammerlander from Austria. Gruber won last week’s race at Deutschnofen. At the doubles event the Russian and Austrian teams are ready to take gold, if Pigneter/Clara make mistakes.

Schedule:
Friday, 05-02-16
from 09:00 training runs
14:00 1st competition run doubles
15:00 2nd and final competition run doubles
18:00 opening ceremony

Saturday, 06-02-16
from 09:30 training runs
12:00 1st competition run men’s singles
14:00 2nd and final competition run men’s singles
20:00 victory ceremony

Sunday, 07-02-16
10:00 1. Wertungslauf Damen
11:30 2. und entscheidender Wertungslauf Damen
13:00 Teambewerb
14:30 Siegerehrung

European Championships on Natural Track are organised since 1970. Four federations, Austria, Italy, Russia, Poland, have won medals at 78 medal events. There are four events. Men’s and Women’s Singles, Doubles and since 2010 the team competition.

Last European Champions:
2006 UMHAUSEN, AUSTRIA
Men:                    Gernot SCHWAB (AUT)
Women:              Christa GIETL (ITA)
Doubles:             Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS)

2008 OLANG, ITALY
Men:                    Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT)
Women:              Ekaterina LAVRENTYEVA (RUS)
Doubles:             Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS)

2010 SANKT SEBASTIAN, AUSTRIA
Men:                    Patrick PIGNETER (ITA)
Women:              Ekaterina LAVRENTYEVA (RUS)
Doubles:             Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA)

2012 NOWOURALSK, RUSSIA
Men:                     Patrick PIGNETER (ITA)
Women:              Ekaterina LAVRENTYEVA (RUS)
Doubles:             Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS)

2014 UMHAUSEN, AUSTRIA
Men:                    Patrick PIGNETER (ITA)
Women:              Ekaterina LAVRENTYEVA (RUS)
Doubles:             Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA)