It looked like a rerun of last year´s races when Patrick Pigneter (ITA) held the first position after the first run and was on his way to an incredible new leading time, when he crashed into the wooden boards just moments before he would have passed the finish line. He proved his routine and experience when he never let go of his sled, as according to the rules he has to pass the finish line “connected with his sled” to avoid disqualification. So he achieved the fourteenth time in the second run and took the seventh overall rank.
The lucky winners were Michael Scheikl and Gerald Kammerlander (both AUT) who were in the lead, tied, and watched Pigneter approach the finish area. For both Austrians it was their first career win. Michael Scheikl is even new to the World Cup: “In last year´s season final I raced in the World Cup for the very first time and finished third. But today it is my first start as an official member of the Austrian team. I never would have thought that I can win here, it is difficult enough to quaify within the Austrian team”, he said.
As happy as Scheikl was Gerald Kammerlander: “After two second places last winter this is the perfect step up. And I thought that I can´t do well on this track here. When we were practising here a while ago, I was three seconds behind Michi Scheikl, so I really did not expect very much here. Then I changed some little details at my runners and I didn´t think it would show such an effect. I am so happy now”, said the Austrian.
Austria took also the third spot on the podium. With an excellent second run (fastest time together with Thomas Kammerlander) Thomas Schopf managed to move from the sixth to the third place. “My settings were not ideal in the first run, I made some little changes for the second run and it worked out really well.” The best Austrian result in years was completed by Gernot Schwab, Robert Batkowski and Thomas Kammerlander, who finished fourth, fifth and sixth.
The luge community will have a closer and curious look at the development of the German team. Austria´s five-time-World Champion Gerhard Pilz is the new trainer for the Germans. “The first season will mainly serve the purpose to see where we are standing. Then I will know where to start to improve the performances”, Pilz said.
Renate Gietl (ITA) made herself a birthday present when she won over Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) in the women´s event. “I am so happy and I feel like a lot of pressure fell off me with this result. It is great to start into the season with a win. I knew that it would be tight with all the training results so close together.”
Serial winner Ekatharina Lavrentjeva had to settle for the second place: “I am satisfied, even though winning is nicer, of course. But I had good runs with a few little mistakes.” Her training results were not convincing, but easily explained: “I was not looking at the time, I was just testing different runners and trying to find the best moments to brake.”
Melanie Batkowski (AUT) finished third, she could not repeat her excellent training results: “It is very difficult and sensitive to find the ideal settings with the track and weather conditions here. The track has changed slightly between the training and the competition runs, my sled adjustments were not as ideal today as they were for the training day.”
All photos (c) Hermann Sobe
