Pigneter (ITA) and Lavrentjeva (RUS) continue winning streak Laas/Lasa (ck) - In a tight finish Patrick Pigneter (ITA), who has not been beaten since the world cup in Olang in February 2011, snatched his 29th win in the singles’ event. In the upper part of the track he was clearly behind Austria’s Thomas Schopf, but at the finish line the Italian was in front again. “At one time I barely made the curve sliding on only one of the steels and I certainly did not stay without mistakes. Eight hundredths are nothing and it was an exciting race, but it is good to know that I can win even though I make mistakes. This is a great start into the season”, Pigneter said. His challenger in the first race of the season was Thomas Schopf who after two mediocre seasons found back to his old strength. Only two hundredths behind after the second run, he gave away his chances in the last part of the track: “In the chicane I lost the steering rein and was sledding without any pressure on the steels, but I really have to be satisfied”, analyzed the Austrian. With a fantastic second run Hannes Clara (ITA) put himself from the sixth place on the podium: “I knew I had to take full risk. Even though I was sixth, I was only 6 hundredths back, so I started the second run much more aggressively. I made a mistake in the third curve in the first run and I tried to improve this and it worked out well”, said Clara. In the Nations’ Cup the Austrian Italian duel was continued and again the Italians were the luckier ones. Florian Clara (ITA) won ahead of the Austrians Patrick Salcher and Christoph Regensburger. Reigned world champion Gerald Kammerlander (AUT) had to settle for the fourth place. In the women’s event there was nothing new at the top with Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) winning one more race, but after Renate Gietl (ITA) and Melanie Batkowski (AUT) retired, the fight for the second place went into another round. 17-year-old local girl Greta Pinggera (ITA) got her nerves under control and claimed the second place: “A home race is not really an advantage. I may know the track, but the pressure is huge, everybody expects a good performance. my nerves are not the best, but I work with a mental coach at the sport school in Mals and at the start I try to get focussed with some music”, said Pinggera who can be proud of her first podium finish in the world cup. Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) finished third and showed respect for her younger team mate and also sees room for improvement for herself: “Two contenders have disappeared and a new one has come. I made some silly mistakes which should not happen at that level any more. I have to see to get more precision in the curves.” She does not see herself as the new number one in the team, even though with so far seven podium finishes she is the most successful Italian woman who is still active. “It will show during the winter who gets to be the number one, I don’t see me there yet.” The math in the new world cup format proves her right: the seeding list is based on the last three races which means that Renate Gietl keeps her seeded spot for one more race. Evelin Lanthaler lost hers to Greta Pinggera. In the team event which is new in the world cup program – in the past it was only part of European and world championships – Russia (Ekatharina Lavrentjeva, Stanislav Kovshik, Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev) won ahead of Italy (Greta Pinggera, Hannes Clara, Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara) and Austria (Tina Unterberger, Thomas Schopf, Christian Schopf/Andreas Schopf). Poland had a full team for the first time ever and finished fourth with Wioletta Rys, Adam Jedrzejko und Andrzej Laszczak/Damian Waniczek ahead of Germany (Michaela Maurer, Georg Maurer, Björn Kierspel/Christian Wichan). Results: Women’s Final Results: 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:01,19(1), 1:00,98(1), 2:02,17 2. Greta PINGGERA (ITA), 1:02,56(2), 1:01,94(2), 2:04,50 3. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 1:02,84(3), 1:02,04(3), 2:04,88 4. Sara BACHMANN (ITA), 1:03,08(4), 1:02,26(4), 2:05,34 5. Liudmila AKSENENKO (RUS), 1:03,32(5), 1:02,69(5), 2:06,01 6. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:03,45(6), 1:02,98(6), 2:06,43 7. Michaela MAURER (GER), 1:03,54(7), 1:03,63(7), 2:07,17 8. Christina GOETSCHL (AUT),1:04,20(8), 1:03,78(8), 2:07,98 Men’s Final Results: 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:00,09(1), 1:00,39(1), 2:00,48 2. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:00,11(2), 1:00,45(3), 2:00,56 3. Hannes CLARA (ITA), 1:00,75(6), 1:00,40(2), 2:01,15 4. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:00,73(5), 1:00,83(4), 2:01,56 5. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:00,69(3), 1:01,07(7), 2:01,76 6. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 1:00,99(7), 1:00,86(5), 2:01,85 7. Stanislav KOVSHIK (RUS), 1:00,72(4), 1:01,35(9), 2:02,07 8. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1:01,05(8), 1:01,04(6), 2:02,09 9. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA), 1:01,36(9), 1:01,18(8), 2:02,54 10. Georg MAURER (GER), 1:01,86(11), 1:01,74(10), 2:03,60 World Cup Rankings (1/6): Women: 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 100 points 2. Greta PINGGERA (ITA) 85 3. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA) 70 4. Sara BACHMANN (ITA) 60 5. Liudmila AKSENENKO (RUS) 55 6. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT) 50 7. Michaela MAURER (GER) 46 8. Christina GOETSCHL (AUT) 42 9. Darija MALIEVA (RUS) 39 10. Veronika NACHMANN (GER) 36 Men: 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 100 points 2. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT) 85 3. Hannes CLARA (ITA) 70 4. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 60 5. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA) 55 6. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT) 50 7. Stanislav KOVSHIK (RUS) 46 8. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT) 42 9. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA) 39 10. Georg MAURER (GER) 36