MOSCOW. Next round of the GRM Group Luge World Cup on Natural Track: On Friday, January 13th, the qualification runs for all competitions as well as the final run of the doubles have been executed in Moscow (RUS). Tomorrow, the doubles will have another opportunity to win points for the GRM Group World Cup, when the Pursuit Race will be held in Moscow for the first time this season.

In the presence of a large delegation of the FIL – President Josef Fendt was at the event as well as Vice President Peter Knauseder and Natalia Gart, President of the Russian Luge Federation –, there has been a double victory for the Russians at the doubles’ event: Pavel Porshnev and Ivan Lazarev won the race, ahead of their compatriots Aleksandr Egorov/Petr Popov and Christian Schopf/Andreas Schopf from Austria. “That was the best possible result for us, the Russians just were too fast today,” Andreas Schopf said after the final run, and indeed, there was no way to beat the Russians on this day. Lazarev also knew that he and his partner had performed well: “It’s hard on this track, it’s not comparable to other tracks in Europe. But we’ve adjusted the equipment perfectly and had two very good runs,” he said, and his partner Porshnev added: “We are satisfied with the results, and we will try to repeat our good performance in the Pursuit Race.” The goal of the victorious Russians is to collect even more points for the GRM Group World Cup. World Cup Leaders Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) ranked sixth – for the first time since December 2009, the Italians have not reached the podium.

At the men’s qualification, Thomas Kammerlander (AUT) was the fastest luger, followed by the Italians Alex Gruber and Stefan Federer. The best Russian athlete on this day was the winner of the last world cup race in Moscow, Aleksandr Egorov. He came in fourth, while his compatriot Juri Talikh, who has been runner-up last season in the Russian capital, couldn’t qualify for the final run this time.
At the qualification of the women’s event, Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) came in first, she had a time of 0:38.75 minutes and was 69 hundredths faster than World Cup Leader Tina Unterberger (AUT), who ranked second. Daria Maleeva (RUS) was the best Russian athlete at the women’s qualification, she ranked third.

At the men’s Nation’s Cup, Juri Talikh won, followed by Christian Schopf (AUT) and Jakov Bukin (RUS). Alexandra Pfattner from Italy triumphed at the women’s Nation’s Cup, ahead of the Russians Lubov Starikova and Anastasia Bagnetova.

The final runs of the men and the women as well as the Pursuit Race of the doubles will be held on Saturday, January 14th.

Results:
http://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/grm-group-luge-world-cup-on-natural-track-1