In their only second start in the premium class of Natural Track Luge Austria´s newest doubleseater team Christian Schatz and Gerhard Mühlbacher celebrated their first World Cup win. “Finally we showed a good performance in both runs. In the World Cup opening as well as at the Austrian Championships we only had one good run, today it worked out well for us”, said Christian Schatz after having defended their first run´s leading position successfully. “Exactly one year ago, here in Kindberg in the IC-Cup we had our very first race together and we won,” he added. The teaming up of Christian Schatz and Gerhard Mühlbacher was a result of Harald Kleinhofer – Mühlbacher´s long term partner – having retired. “So I was debating what to do. Quit, compete as a single seater or find a new partner”, Mühlbacher explained. “I knew I needed an experienced partner, one who suits me concerning style and technique and most of all, one I get along with as a person. So I though about it and the name of Christian Schatz came to my mind. I called him and here we are.” The four week´s break between the first and second World Cup race they used for a lot of training. “We travelled between Kindberg, Umhausen and Olang and to tell the truth, I was very happy to have one week of regeneration”, said Mühlbacher. “But you have to improve the material constantly, if you end the season with the same sled you start the season, you don´t win a lot”.

The efforts of Schatz/Mühlbacher did not remain unnoticed by the experienced team mates Reinhard Beer/Herbert Kögl. “We already saw in the training runs which high potential those guys have. They are the future,” Beer said, after having made sure that it is still them who control the present. After two second places Beer/Kögl took the lead in the overall World Cup. “We do not like the narrow curves here in Kindberg, but we made the best out of it. With Olang we have one of our favourite tacks coming up, so this season does not look to bad for us. The huge question mark is of course Canada with two races on a brand new track.”

The third place on the podium took the Polish couple Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev. In the women´s event the first run was held already. Ekatharina Lavrentjeva took the lead. The race will be continued tomorrow, Sunday. The races will start at 9am with the first run in the men´s. Even though in Kindberg excellent sport performances could be seen, the weekend was overshadowed by a tragic event: the FIL´s long term timing and data control mastermind, Austrian Vinzenz Wegscheider (59), had deceased the week before the race with the funeral having been only Thursday, one day prior to the World Cup race in Kindberg.

Results:

Final Result Doubleseaters:
1. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 1:16,44(1), 1:15,74(1), 2:32,18
2. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT), 1:16,62(2), 1:16,38(2), 2:33,00
3. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:16,64(3), 1:16,40(3), 2:33,04
4. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:16,69(4), 1:16,70(4), 2:33,39
5. Denis ALIMOV/Roman MOLISTOV (RUS), 1:17,20(5), 1:16,91(5), 2:34,11
6. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:17,45(7), 1:17,21(6), 2:34,66
7. Andreas LEITNER/Thomas WEISS (ITA), 1:17,42(6), 1:19,01(8), 2:36,43
8. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS), 1:18,12(8), 1:18,89(7), 2:37,01
9. Galabin BOTZEV/Zlatomir ZDRAVKOV (BUL), 1:23,82(10), 1;22,78(9), 2:46,60
10. Yevhen PRYSYANCNYUK/Jury HARTSULA (UKR), 1:22,95(9), 1:31,35(10), 2:54,30

Women (standings after one run):
1. Ekatherina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:12,34(1),
2. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:12,40(2),
3. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:13,72(3),
4. Christa GIETL (ITA), 1:13,99(4),
5. Karolina WANICZEK (POL), 1:14,05(5),
6. Imelda GRUBER (ITA), 1:14,25(6),
7. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:14,38(7),
8. Anna BRAUN (AUT), 1:14,55(8),
9. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:14,56(9),
10. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:15,00(10),

World Cup Standings (2/6):

Doubleseaters:
1. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT) 170 points
2. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT) 160
3. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 150
4. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 140
5. Denis ALIMOV/Roman MOLISTOV (RUS) 105
6. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS) 97
7. Andreas LEITNER/Thomas WEISS (ITA) 88
8. Galabin BOTZEV/Zlatomir ZDRAVKOV (BUL) 78

Chris Karl
FIL Media Service

Photo: Schatz/Mühlbacher (c) Bernhard Kogler