Laas (ck) - Back to their old strength found Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) when they won the world cup opening race in Laas (ITA): “IN the doubles’ event we were not used to such a smooth success any more. However, we changed a few details in the equipment which made a huge difference and with that the self confidence came back. Now we are back to where we were years ago and we also have fun again”, said Patrick Pigneter and adds that he hardly ever worked so hard in the doubles discipline as in the preparation for this season. With the fastest run times in both runs they claimed their 21st world cup win in the first race of the season. A “perfect start” had Austria’s Christian Schopf/Andreas Schopf with their second place. “We had a perfect preparation for the season, we tested a lot of equipment and also physically we are top fit. We have never been sick, had no injuries, we almost never had that much training time”, says Andreas Schopf. “We toured through all of South Tyrol and found ideal training conditions. We are on the right track and the declared goal is to beat Patrick (Pigneter) one day”, adds Christian Schopf. In their second run they were only beaten by four hunderedths by Pignter/Clara. Not quite satisfied were reigning world champions and last year’s overall world cup winners Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev (RUS), who finished third. “The second run was a bit better, but we clearly need more training. This year we only could start training two weeks later than we usually do.” In the nations’ cup the experienced double Christian Schatz/Gerhard Mühlbacher (AUT) won ahead of their fellow Austrians Rupert Brüggler/Tobias Angerer. Pavel Silin/Iwan Rodin (RUS) finished third. In the women’s event the first competition run was held already. After Renate Gietl (ITA) as well as Melanie Batkowski (AUT) retired, the luge world was watching closely for who would take the leading role in the respective team. Local heroin Greta Pinggera (ITA) seized her opportunity in the qualification and even left seeded team mate Evelin Lanthaler behind her. Nothing changed at the top: Russia’s Ekatharina Lavrentjeva dominated the field and leads by a margin of more than one second. Melanie Schwarz (ITA) won the nations’ cup ahead of Carmen Planötscher (ITA) and Russia’s Lubov Starikova. The men’s qualification was full of surprises. Reigning world champion Gerald Kammerlander (AUT) missed the qualification and had to give way to Thomas Schopf and Gernot Schwab who will complete the Austrian team together with the seeded Thomas Kammerlander and Michael Scheikl. In the Italian team Florian Breitenberger and Anton Blasbichler won over Rudi Resch, Florian Clara and Stefan Gruber, who will start in the nations’ cup. Italy’s seeded athletes are Patrick Pigneter and Hannes Clara. Women’s intermediate ranking after one run: 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:01,19(1) 2. Greta PINGGERA (ITA), 1:02,56(2) 3. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 1:02,84(3) 4. Sara BACHMANN (ITA), 1:03,08(4) 5. Liudmila AKSENENKO (RUS), 1:03,32(5) 6. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:03,45(6), 7. Michaela MAURER (GER), 1:03,54(7) 8. Christina GOETSCHL (AUT),1:04,20(8) Final result doubles: 1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA), 1:04,08(1), 1:04,82(1), 2:08,90 2. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:04,67(2), 1:04,86(2), 2:09,53 3. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:05,22(3), 1:04,92(3), 2:10,14 4. Thomas SCHOPF/Andreas SCHÖPF (AUT), 1:05,37(4), 1:05,10(4), 2:10,47 5. Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV (RUS), 1:05,63(5), 1:05,57(5), 2:11,20 6. Hannes CLARA/Stefan GRUBER (ITA), 1:06,19(6), 1:05,66(6), 2:11,85 World Cup Rankings (1/6): Doubles: 1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA) 100 points 2. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 85 3. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 70 4. Thomas SCHOPF/Andreas SCHÖPF (AUT) 60 5. Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV (RUS) 55 6. Hannes CLARA/Stefan GRUBER (ITA) 50 7. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 46 8. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER) 42 9. Maryan HYZNER/Andriy VERCHUK (UKR) 39