DEUTSCHNOFEN/NOVA PONENTE. The fifth, and penultimate, event of the GRM Group Luge World Cup 2017/2018 takes place from January 26th to 28th 2018 at the Pföslriep track in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente (ITA). 35 men, 24 women, and eleven doubles have registered for the races, 19 nations are represented.
On Saturday, January 27th, the first competition runs of the men and the women as well as the final runs of the doubles were executed.

At the doubles’ event, there has been a surprise: For the first time this season, Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) were not on top of the podium after the race. The Italians, who had won every single World Cup event so far and were also considered the favorites in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente, only ranked sixth at the Pföslriep track and therefore missed the chance to secure the doubles’ overall World Cup before the finals in Umhausen (AUT). A mistake not far from the finish line cost them the win. “Actually, we were quite good today”, said Clara after the race, “but that’s the way things are in professional sport: Every mistake can be decisive.”

Pigneter/Clara are still in the lead of the doubles’ overall standings, however, their competitors caught up again – especially Rupert Brüggler/Tobias Angerer (AUT), who celebrated their first victory of the season in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente, gained a lot of points. “We had a great day. It was not easy to adapt to the conditions of the track, for it had been much softer yesterday in training than it was today in the competition runs. But we did a good job, and now we can smile down from the top of the podium,” Angerer was happy, while his partner Brüggler added: “Both our runs were nearly perfect. In the first leg, it was a close race, and the second run had shown that even Pigneter and Clara make mistakes. That helped us a lot today, of course.”

With a time of 1:58.00 minutes, the reigning World Champions were 16 hundredths faster than the Russians Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev, who ranked second ahead of their teammates Aleksandr Egorov/Petr Popov. “Altogether, we delivered a good performance. We might have made a few mistakes in the first run, but the second run was much better,” said Lazarev, who was rather satisfied with the outcome of the race. His teammate Egorov, however, could have been happier: “We just made too many mistakes, they were the same in every single run. I have no idea, what happened today,” the Russian said.
So the winners of the doubles’ overall World Cup were only determined in the very last race in Umhausen.

In the first competition run of the men, Alex Gruber (ITA) has shown why he had won the last three events at the Pföslriep track: The reigning World Champion finished with a time of 0:54.47 minutes and therefore kept his teammate Patrick Pigneter, who came in second, as well as the current World Cup leader Thomas Kammerlander (AUT) at bay. Gruber’s lead over his pursuers are 35 and 81 hundredths, respectively.

At the women’s event, the winner of last year’s race in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente was also the best athlete in the first competition run this year: World Champion Greta Pinggera (ITA) delivered a time of 0:55.75 minutes and therefore was 23 hundredths faster than runner-up Ekaterina Lavrentyeva (RUS). Evelin Lanthaler (ITA), who is still in the lead in the women’s overall standings ahead of Pinggera, came in third with a gap of 33 hundredths behind her teammate.

At the men’s Nations’ Cup, the Austrian Bernd Neurauter won ahead of Armin Folie (ITA) and Aleksey Martyanov (RUS). At the women’s Nations’ Cup, the local hero Daniela Mittermair (ITA) ranked first, followed by Tereza Bartova (CZE) and Nina Stanic (SRB).

On Sunday, January 28th, the fifth GRM Group Luge World Cup 2017/2018 in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente will come to an end with the final runs of the men and the women as well as with the team competition.

Results:
http://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/grm-group-luge-world-cup-on-natural-track-9