Pigneter/Clara (ITA) continue winning streak Mixed double is the new trend Passeier (ck) - Even though Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) celebrated their 22nd world cup win, they are well aware that times might change easily: „Now it seems easy and we can afford not to attack, but chose a fine line. But we know that towards the world championships the Russians will catch up again.” But not only the Russians are getting ready for the championships, also once again runner up, Christian Schopf/Andreas Schopf consider themselves as medal contenders: “We are certainly satisfied with two second places in the world cup, but our big goal are the world championships in two weeks”, says Christian Schopf. Their good results are a consequence of good work during the summer months: “We work together with a new mental coach and we are mentally stronger. We work differently as a team now, we don’t drive ourselves crazy when we drive a bad curve or anything else goes wrong”, explains Andreas Schopf. Third finished Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev (RUS), who did not yet manage to find their usual form. “We would have needed a few more runs to fix all the mistakes. But we are quite happy about the third place in the overall world cup”, said Lazarev. What used to be a rare occurrence in former years, seems to be a new trend: a mixed double with a man and a woman. Three of them participated in Passeier, the Slovenian double with Matic Nemc and Petra Dragiceviv even qualified for the world cup. The other two mixed doubles from Bulgaria and Italy finished fifth and sixth in the Nations’ Cup. The International Luge Federation FIL gives all possible freedom in their rules: also two women could make a double. In the women’s world cup once again Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) took the lead after one run. But a group of three Italians is places right behind her and will hope for a chance in the second run: Evelin Lanthaler is second with a 19 hundredths margin, behind her Greta Pinggera and Melanie Schwarz share the third place. Surprisingly ranked fifth is 14-year-old Theresa Maurer (GER), who is not related with Michaela (ranked 7) or Georg Maurer, also from Germany. In the Nations’ Cup Carmen Planötscher won ahead of fellow Italian Sara Bachmann and Austria’s Marlies Wagner. In the doubles’ Nations’ Cup Thomas Schopf/Andreas Schöpf (AUT) won ahead of Christian Schatz/Gerhard Mühlbacher (AUT) and Pavel Silin/Iwan Rodin (RUS). In the men’s event the qualification was held on today’s Saturday. In the Italian team Alex Gruber and Rudi Resch succeeded in the fight for the two available world cup spots next to seeded Patrick Pigneter and Hannes Clara. Anton Blasbichler will have to settle for the Nations’ Cup this time. Within the Austrian team Thomas Kammerlander and Christoph Regensburger succeeded and will start in the world cup together with seeded Thomas Schopf and Michael Scheikl. Reigning world champion Gerald Kammerlander did not start at all. For the first time ever a team from New Zealand participates in the natural track luge world cup. Jack Leslie and Joshua Fogo missed the qualification closely and will start in the Nations’ Cup. Georg Maurer (GER) raised attention in the training run and confirmed his good performance with a fifth place in the qualification. Tomorrow, Sunday, both world cup runs for men as well as the Nations’ Cup for men will be held. The women’s second run will start around 11am. Final Results Doubles: 1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA), 0:57,14(1), 0:57,40(1), 1:54,54 2. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 0:57,53(2), 0:57,54(2), 1:55,07 3. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 0:58,19(3), 0:58,39(3), 1:56,58 4. Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV (RUS), 0:58,56(5), 0:58,39(3), 1:56,95 5. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER), 0:58,81(6), 0:58,51(5), 1:57,32 6. Rupert BRÜGGLER/Tobias ANGERER (AUT), 0:58,42(4), 0:59,12(8), 1:57,54 7. Hannes CLARA/Stefan GRUBER (ITA), 1:57,59 8. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:58,12 World Cup Rankings (2/6): Doubles: 1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA) 200 points 2. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 170 3. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 140 4. Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV (RUS) 115 5. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER) 97 6. Hannes CLARA/Stefan GRUBER (ITA) 96 7. Thomas SCHOPF/Andreas SCHÖPF (AUT) 94 8. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 88 9. Rupert BRÜGGLER/Tobias ANGERER (AUT) 84 10. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHBACHER (AUT) 68