It was more than just a lifesign the Italian National team gave at their home race in Olang/Valdaora. Florian Breitenberger, Patrick Pigneter and Anton Blasbichler took the three spots on the podium, Martin Psenner and Philipp Antholzer completed the success with the fourth and fifth rank. “My last win in the World Cup has been four years ago in Hüttau. Since then I never managed two good runs in a race even though my training results were never bad. I am so happy that today finally I made it back to the top spot,” said Breitenberger. With his success in Olang he gained a lot of confidence for the upcoming European Championships next weekend. “I like the track in Umhausen very much. We have been there already and had some training runs and I felt quite comfortable there.”

Patrick Pigneter proved once again that this year he is in excellent shape. After having won in Lungiarü, runner up in Kindberg, he also took the second rank in Olang. “I do not like this track very much, it does not really suit my style, so I would have been satisfied with a top-seven-result. The happier I am that I made it up the podium”, he said. He now leads in the overall World Cup with a 61 points margin. Reigning World Champion Anton Blasbichler got himself in good shape just in time for the European Championships. He finished on the podium for the first time in this season, even though he was handicapped by an injury. “Today when I was preparing the sled I cut my left thumb. It had to be treated with four stitches. Considering this I am very happy with my third place, even though after my good training runs I should have hoped for more.” The Italians got a little help by Austria´s Robert Batkowski, who was ranked second after the first run, but had a major mistake at the end of the second run and fell back to the 14th place. “I think he took too much risk”, Blasbichler said,” the track had some holes in this curve, that´s why I was going a bit slower there. However, looking at today´s result I would say the Italian team is ready for the European Championships.”

Results:
Men Singles (41):
1. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA), 1:09,35(1), 1:09,62(1), 2:18,97
2. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:10,00(3), 1:09,75(2), 2:19,75
3. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:10,03(4), 1:09,93(3), 2:19,96
4. Martin PSENNER (ITA), 1:10,12(5), 1:10,02(4), 2:20,14
5. Philipp ANTHOLZER (ITA), 1:10,28(6), 1:10,20(7), 2:20,48
6. Philipp WAGNER (AUT), 1:10,29(7), 1:10,36(8), 2:20,65
7. Andreas CASTIGLIONI (ITA), 1.10,32(8), 1:10,37(9), 2:20,69
8. Gerhard PILZ (AUT), 1:10,64(11), 1:10,14(5), 2:20,78
9. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1:10,68(12), 1:10,18(6), 2:20,86
10. Florian BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:10,46(9), 1:10,67(11), 2:21,15
11. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:10,72(13), 1:10,48(10), 2:21,20
12. Georg MAURER (GER), 1:10,63(10), 1:10,76(12), 2:21,39
13. Björn KIERSPEL (GER), 1:10,79(14), 1:11,22(13), 2:22,01
14. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:09,93(2), 1:12,31(20), 2:22,24
16. Corey PUSEY (CAN), 1:12,19(18), 1:11,95(15), 2:24,14
17. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN), 1:12,31(19), 1:11,98(16), 2:24,29
22. John GIBSON (CAN), 1:13,09(23), 1:12,96(22), 2:26,05
23. Julien SCHULTZ (USA), 1:12,86(21), 1:13,37(26), 2:26,23
31. Greg JONES (CAN), 1:15,00(31), 1:14,24(30), 2:29,24

World Cup Rankings (3/6):
Men Singles:
1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 270 points
2. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA) 209
3. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA) 190
4. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT) 189
5. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 165
6. Martin PSENNER (ITA) 150
7. Philipp WAGNER 136
8. Florian BATKOWSKI (AUT) 108
9. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT) 101
9. Andreas CASTIGLIONI (ITA) 101
11. Georg MAURER (GER) 92
11. Gerhard PILZ (AUT) 92
13. Björn KIERSPEL (GER) 88
14. Marcus GRAUSAM (GER) 86
24. Corey PUSEY (CAN) 44
29. John GIBSON (CAN) 36
30. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN) 35
31. Julien SCHULTZ (USA 33
39. Greg JONES (CAN) 18

Photo: Patrick PIGNETER, Florian BREITENBERGER, Anton BLASBICHLER (c) Bernhard Kogler