Kindberg (es) - Patrick Pigneter and Florian Clara (ITA) are still on the road to success. After the World Championships they celebrated their next victory – they won in Kindberg only 0.12 sec ahead of their fellow countrymen Hannes Clara and Stefan Gruber. Third place at the World Cup in their home country for the brothers Christian and Andreas Schopf (AUT). Pigneter and Clara were cheering in the finish area. On the shortened track they performed the best – “a little bit surprising” as they said. Pigneter: “The track is quite soft and short and then it’s always difficult. But it’s fine, of course.” Clara added, “The victory was important for the Overall World Cup. Great.” For Hannes Clara and Stefan Gruber this second place was their first podium as a Double and they were happy about it: “We performed well, in the training as well as in the competition run. It’s a surprise that we could finish second but it’s amazing.” The two Austrians had to be satisfied with rank 3. Christian Schopf analyzed, “It was important for us in Overall World Cup to be ahead of our Russian colleagues Porshnev and Lazarev but, unfortunately, Pigneter and Clara are now too far ahead.” His brother Andreas emphasized: “A podium at the World Cup in our home country is still great.” Final Results Doubles: 1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA), 0:46,17 2. Hannes CLARA/Stefan GRUBER (ITA), 0:46,29 3. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 0:46,44 4. Rupert BRÜGGLER/Tobias ANGERER (AUT), 0:46:52 5. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 0:46,74 6. Pavel SILIN/Iwan RODIN (RUS), 0:46,91 7. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER), 0:47,20 8. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 0:47,82 World Cup Rankings (4/6): 1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA) 385 points 2. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 310 3. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 295 4. Hannes CLARA/Stefan GRUBER (ITA) 241 Nations‘ Cup: In the women‘s Nations’ Cup Carmen Planötscher (ITA) won ahead of Sarah Gruber (ITA) and Katrin Mladek (AUT). Patrick Salcher (AUT) won the men’s Nations’ Cup – right ahead of the two old hands Anton Blasbichler (ITA) and Rudi Resch (ITA). The “second” local hero from Kindberg, Bernd Neurauter, finished fourth – just 17 hundredths behind. The Austrians Thomas Schopf and Andreas Schöpf could win the doubles’ Nations’ Cup. Second became the Russian duo Aleksandr Egorov and Petr Popov. Third, also from Russia: Stanislav Kovshik and Ilya Tarasov. Standings after the women’s first competition run: With the ladies it’s once again Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) leading after the first competition run. 32 hundredths ahead of another Russian, Liudmila Aksenenko. Third place: Greta Pinggera (ITA). Standings after the men’s first competition run: Alex Gruber (ITA) is the current leader after the first competition run. He’s leading ahead of his fellow countryman Hannes Clara and Thomas Kammerlander (AUT). Michael Scheikl, local hero in Kindberg, is only 0,24 sec behind on fifth place. This result promises a thrilling second competition day tomorrow.