With an almost 100 points margin Patrick Pigneter will go into the GERMANPIPE World Cup final with two World Cup races this coming weekend. In theory this does not make him the overall World Cup winner yet, but in reality his competitors Florian Breitenberger (ITA), Gernot Schwab and Robert Batkowski (both AUT) will only be able to fight for the ranks behind Pigneter. Robert Batkowski, in top shape with a new sled and a fresh European Champion title, will come back to the site of his biggest success: in 2003 in Zelezniki he became World Champion.

In the women´s event a similar picture can be seen: a 55 points lead ahead of Renate Gietl (ITA) does not assure that reigning World and now (again) European Champion Ekatharina Lavrentjeva will win the World Cup, but considering that the Russian has never finished worst then second in the past three years, it will need a miracle to take away the trophy from her.

Defeated for the first time in the European Championships last weekend, where they finished second, serial winners Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara will not have to worry about the overall ranking. A comforting 105 points margin should be easily enough to bring the trophy back to Italy for the first time since 1999/2000 when David and Armin Mair won the World Cup. Should Patrick Pigneter really win both, the singleseater as well as doubleseater overall he will be the first athlete in the history of the World Cup to accomplish this within one season.