Olang (ck) - It might be surprising that an athlete who has won everything and has broken all records jumps from joy about another European title like Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) did when she won gold in Olang. “This title means so much to me because so far I have been more successful in World Championships than in the continental Championships,” said the three-times World and now two-times European Champion Lavrentjeva, who always liked the track in Olang: “I always enjoy racing here. I did very well in the first two runs and so I did not take any chances in the final run.”
Even though the Russian did not take full risk in her last run she was only beaten by Renate Kasslatter (ITA), who finished second in the final ranking. “I wanted to win a medal, but even the third place would have been like a victory for me. That I am vice Champion now is more than I dared to hope. I knew I had a fantastic third run, but I did not believe that nobody would beat me until the end. I am more than happy”, said the Italian who apparently finds to her best performance at big events with many spectators. “It looks like I need the pressure, I always can push my limits a little bit more when many people are watching.” Her recipe for the third run was to be “fast and precise at the same time. Today the track was a bit slower so there was time to concentrate on being more precise.”
The bronze medal went just as two years ago to Renate Gietl (ITA): “I have had my personal battle with this track here for many years. This weekend I never managed to find the ideal way through the first curve. I had mistakes in all three runs, so I have to be happy that I have won a medal.”

The men´s event had a breathtaking final with a happy end for the Austrian team. Not serial winner Patrick Pigneter (ITA) claimed the top spot, but the World Champion of 2003, Robert Batkowski. “This morning I had a spectacular run and another good one in the final and I am very satisfied now, especially as I know that some people did not believe in me any more. I always knew if I only had the perfect sled underneath my body I could be fast and successful again.”

Today´s silver medal went to another experienced athlete, Anton Blasbichler (ITA), who had been European Champion in 1993 and 1999 already. After a second place in the World Cup earlier this season he suddenly had problems with his equipment: “I started to try different things and instead of becoming faster I became slower and slower. But now everything works fine again and I am very happy to be among the top athletes again.” Just before the Championships he had some parts of his sled specially fixed for him. “There are some parts which need to be perfectly adjusted to body size and shape. I needed to replace some of these parts in my sled because they were broken, so I had to do that myself to have it ready in time.” He knows that even winning would have been possible. He lost the race in the second run in which he achieved only the fifth best time. “It was so cold in the morning and I misjudged this and had the wrong setting. But there is a reason why the saying goes that you never stop learning”, he said with a smile, being the oldest competitor in the field.
Patrick Pigneter had to settle for the bronze medal. He had been in leading position before the final run. “I have no idea what went wrong. I had no major mistake, I think I just wanted too much. I wanted to be really fast and ended up being really slow. Probably a normal run woukd have been best.”

Results:

Women (15):

1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS),1:10,02(1), 1:10,33(1), 1:10,66(2), 3:31,01
2. Renate KASSLATTER (ITA), 1:10,93(3), 1:11,07(3), 1:10,46(1), 3:32,46
3. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:10,85(2), 1.10,64(2), 1:11,16(3), 3:32,65
4. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:10,95(5), 1:11,39(4), 1:11,18(4), 3:33,52
5. Julia VETLOVA (RUS), 1:10,94(4), 1:11,88(6), 1:11,45(5), 3:34,27
6. Evelyn LANTHALER (ITA), 1:11,80(6), 1:11,41(5), 1:12,19(8), 3:35,40
7. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:12,01(7), 1:12,42(8), 1:11,82(6), 3:36,25
8. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:12,38(9), 1:12,35(7), 1:12,81(9), 3:37,54
9. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:12,22(8), 1:13,27(9), 1:12,11(7), 3:37,60
10. Michaela MAURER(GER), 1:13,74(12), 1:14,69(12), 1:13,23(10), 3:41,66

Men (35):
1. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:09,77(3), 1:09,14(1), 1:09,25(2), 3:28,16
2. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:09,51(2), 1:09,85(5), 1:08,98(1), 3:28,34
3. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:09,44(1), 1:09,35(2), 1:10,39(8), 3:29,18
4. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 1:10,41(10), 1:09,41(3), 1:09,82(3), 3:29,64
5. Rudi RESCH (ITA), 1:09,96(6), 1:10,24(7), 1:10,00(4), 3:30,20
6. Hannes CLARA (ITA), 1:09,88(4), 1:09,98(6), 1:10,49(10), 3:30,35
7. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA), 1:10,70(13), 1:09,68(4), 1:10,00(4), 3:30,38
8. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1.10,27(8), 1:10,32(11), 1:10,44(9), 3:31,03
9. Florian BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:10,48(11), 1:10,28(9), 1:10,36(7), 3:31,12
10. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1:10,09(7), 1:10,29(10), 1:10,78(13), 3:31,16
11. Christian SCHWARZ (ITA), 3:31,56
12. Damian WANICZEK (POL), 3:32,14
13. Georg MAURER (GER), 3:32,35


Chris Karl
FIL Media Service