Winterberg (pps) Five days at Koenigssee, Germany, five days at Lillehammer, Norway: That was the complete preparation of Jaroslav Slavik for the 2003-2004 season. “I have to take the World Cup as practice”, the 27-year-old physical education teacher of Slovakia said.

Slavik who finished tenth overall last winter, seems to have practised well in the Viessmann Luge World Cup - the hobby ice hockey player surprisingly won the bronze medal at the European Championships at Oberhof, Germany, in the men’s event. Until then, his best result was a sixth place at Lake Placid.

“I never reckoned with the bronze medal. It was totally surprising to me”, Slavik said. Second place at the Goodwill Games is the best result in his career. “But this European bronze medal means much more, of course.”

The bronze medal is also the result of the Slovak programme, headed by Walter Marx sen. and Maria Jasencakova, who was fifth overall at the première of the luge World Cup in 1979-1980. At the 2003 World Championships at Sigulda, Latvia, Slovakia missed a medal in the team event only narrowly when coming fourth. According to the old points system, the team with Slavik, Veronika Sabolova and the soubles Lubomir Mick-Walter Marx would even have won the title...