ST. SEBASTIAN. Fourth round of the GRM Group Luge World Cup 2017/2018: On Saturday, January 20th 2018, training runs for all categories as well as the first competition runs for the women’s and the men’s event were held in St. Sebastian (AUT). 29 women, 40 men, and 13 doubles registered for the races, 18 nations were represented. Furthermore, two delegates of the International Luge Federation (FIL) also attended the event: FIL President Josef Fendt, and Harald Steyrer, FIL Vice President of Finance.

In the first competition run of the women’s event, Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) was successful once again: The current World Cup leader finished with a time of 1:11.88 minutes and therefore was 18 hundredths faster than her compatriot Greta Pinggera. With a gap of 66 hundredths to Lanthaler, the Austrian Tina Unterberger ranked third, while Ekaterina Lavrentjeva (RUS), who had been the fastest athlete in the second training run, came in fifth in the end.

At the men’s event, Alex Gruber (ITA) took the lead after the first competition run: The reigning World Champion delivered a runtime of 1:10.04 minutes and therefore managed to keep his competitors at bay. Thomas Kammerlander (AUT), who had been the fastest athlete in both training runs, came in second with a gap of twelve hundredths to Gruber. Another Austrian was also successful today: Michael Scheikl ranked third, he was 44 hundredths slower than Gruber. Patrick Pigneter (ITA), who is the runner-up to Kammerlander in the overall standings, only came in seventh.

At the women’s Nations’ Cup, Alexandra Pfattner (ITA) was victorious, she won the race ahead of Svetlana Zaravina (RUS) and Maria Ciubotaru (ROU). Stefan Federer (ITA) ranked first at the men’s Nations’ Cup, followed by Bernd Neurauter (AUT) and Juri Talikh (RUS).

On Sunday, January 21st 2018, the winners of the fourth GRM Group Luge World Cup will be determined in St. Sebastian.

Results:
http://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/grm-group-luge-world-cup-on-natural-track-6