PASSEIER VALLEY/VAL PASSIRIA. After the GRM Group Luge World Cup in Moscow (RUS) unfortunately had to be canceled by the International Luge Federation (FIL) due to the poor weather conditions in the Russian capital, the fourth competition of this World Cup season is held from January 12th to 14th 2018 in the Italian Passeier Valley/Val Passiria. 38 men, 21 women, and eleven doubles’ take part in the races, 18 nations are represented. 
On Saturday, January 13th, the winners of the doubles’ event were determined and the women completed their first competition runs in presence of the FIL delegate Harald Steyrer (FIL Vice President of Finance).

At the doubles’ event, Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) were, once again, not to beat: The Italians continued their winning streak in the Passeier Valley/Val Passiria and triumphed for the third time in a row this season – despite the fact that they had a few problems this weekend, as Pigneter explained: “Our last training run wasn’t good, we had some issues with the equipment. That’s why we were a little nervous today.” His partner Clara added: “This time, our runs weren’t flawless. Sure, we were good today, but not perfect.” Nonetheless, the Italians, who still rank first in the World Cup’s overall standings with a comfortable lead, were of course satisfied with the race: “Despite everything, we delivered a good performance, and we are pleased with our victory,” said Clara. With a time of 1:55.52 minutes, the Italian pairing was nearly a second faster than runner-ups Aleksandr Egorov/Petr Popov (RUS), but the Russians, who seem to constantly improve since the first World Cup, were happy with the outcome of the race, too: Due to their good performance in the Passeier Valley/Val Passiria, they managed to catch up with their teammates Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev – now both Russian doubles share the second rank in the overall standings. At the race in the Passeier Valley/Val Passiria, however, another pairing ranked third: Armin Folie/Simone Gaio from Italy stood on the podium of a World Cup event for the very first time: “From the beginning, everything went smoothly for us. After the training runs, we had the feeling that we might score well in the final. It is great to have reached the podium eventually, especially here on my home track,” Folie was happy after the race.

In the first competition run of the women, Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) was the fastest athlete: The local hero, who had also delivered the best run times in training, finished with a time of 0:55.72 minutes and therefore kept Ekaterina Lavrentyeva (RUS) and teammate Greta Pinggera at bay. Lanthaler’s lead over her pursuers are 0,44 and 0,53 hundredths, respectively.

At the women’s Nations’ Cup, Daniela Mittermair (ITA) was victorious, she won the race ahead of Nina Stanic (SRB) and Ashleigh Evans (GBR).

On Sunday, January 14th, the final runs of the women and the men will be executed in the Passeier Valley/Val Passiria.

Results:
http://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/grm-group-luge-world-cup-on-natural-track-7