More than one second was Gernot Schwab´s (AUT) time margin after two runs at the Nitehawk track which was easily enough to guarantee him his second career win in the World Cup. But he did not have an easy go for it: “In the training runs I ruined my sled and really had a hard time to get the runnings repaired in time. I could tell in yesterday´s first run that there was still something wrong, so I had a night session to get the problem fixed. Half of my victory I owe to the Batkowski brothers who proved to be great team mates. They helped me repair my sled”, Schwab said. The Batkowski family runs a welding company back in Austria and therefore had knowledge as well as tools to repair Schwab´s damaged sled. “These parts that were broken on my sled are usually not repaired onsite, normally you have to go to the manufacturer of the sled to have that fixed.” Gernot Schwab did not mind the heavy snowfall during the race: “I really did not care about the wheather, I just hoped my sled would be ok. But generally I like this track here with its many turns. Canada is a good turf for me anyway, two years ago I finished second”, he said, referring to the last World Cup in Grande Prairie which was held on a different track. In the overall World Cup Gernot Schwab made a huge step forwards. With his 100 points of today he now lays 66 points behind the current leader Patrick Pigneter (ITA). But he has no intention to let the overall World Cup taken away from him. He showed a good performance himself and finished second.

The athletes did not get much of a rest as the second World Cup of Grande Prairie was started right away. In the women´s first competition run Italy´s Renate Gietl managed to beat Ekatherina Lavrentjeva (RUS) and leads 33 hundredths of a second ahead of her. Third is Renate´s sister, current European Champion Christa Gietl.

In the men´s first competition run of the second World Cup Gernot Schwab has been fastest once again, but closely followed by Patrick Pigneter. Third is young Austrian Philipp Wagner. The competition will be continued tomorrow, Saturday, at 10am with the second runs of men and women as well as both runs of doubles.

Final Results Men World Cup I (29):

1. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1:17,79(1), 1:17,12(1), 2:34,91
2. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:18,27(3), 1:17,68(2), 2:35,95
3. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA), 1:17,98(2), 1:18,19(5), 2:36,17
4. Florian BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:18,31(4), 1:17,97(3), 2:36,28
5. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:18,94(8), 1:18,18(4), 2:37,12
6. Martin PSENNER (ITA), 1:18,48(5), 1:18,80(8), 2:37,28
7. Marcus GRAUSAM (GER), 1:18,87(7), 1:18,65(7), 2;37,52
8. Philipp WAGNER (AUT), 1:19,28(10), 1:18,58(6), 2:37,86
9. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:19,10(9), 1:19,07(10), 2:38,17
10. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 1.18,78(6), 1.19,42(12), 2:38,20

World Cup Standings (4/6):

1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 355
2. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT) 289
3. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA) 279
4. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA) 229
5. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 220
6. Martin PSENNER (ITA) 200
7. Philipp WAGNER 178
8. Florian BATKOWSKI (AUT) 168
9. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT) 135
10. Marcus GRAUSAM (GER) 132

Chris Karl
FIL Media Service