DEUTSCHNOFEN/NOVA PONENTE. GRM Group Luge World Cup on Natural Track in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente (ITA): On Saturday, January 28th, the qualification runs of all competitions as well as the final runs of the doubles were executed.

At the doubles’ event, Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev (RUS) were victorious: The Russian pairing won the race in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente ahead of World Cup leaders Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) and the Austrians Christian Schopf/Andreas Schopf.
“We delivered a great performance today. Our first run was perfect, therefore we weren’t forced to risk much in the second run,” Lazarev said after the race. “We just tried to stay calm, our lead was big enough.” His partner Porshnev added: “Of course we are very happy, not least because today’s victory was immensely important regarding the overall standings in the World Cup.” Indeed: After the race in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente, only five points separate the Russians from Pigneter/Clara, who still are in the lead in the doubles’ overall standings. This means that the champions of the GRM Group Luge World Cup 2016/2017 will only be determined at the World Cup final in Umhausen (AUT). “The pairing who performs better in Umhausen wins the World Cup,” said Clara, who was not entirely happy after the race in South Tyrol: “We just made too many mistakes in the first run. In the final run, we attacked and we were able to shorten the gap to the Russians, but it was not enough. Nevertheless we have to be satisfied with the second rank today.” Clara’s opinion was shared by his partner Pigneter, who already looked forward to another event, namely the World Championships in Vatra Dornei (ROU), which will be held next weekend. “This is our main goal this season,” clarified Pigneter. Schopf/Schopf, who came in third in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente and now also rank third in the doubles’ overall standings, were also looking forward to the big event in Romania: “We already did some races in Vatra Dornei in the past, so we know the track there quite well. However, World Championships are always something special,” said Andreas Schopf. But after their performance in South Tyrol, the Austrians are optimistic: “We’ve made a few mistakes in the first run, so we knew before the second run that there’s still room for improvement. Our final run was good, but our time wasn’t. We will now try to find out what went wrong, but all in all we are in good shape at the moment,” said Christian Schopf.

At the men’s qualification, the winner of the last World Cup race in Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente, Alex Gruber (ITA), ranked first – with a time of 0:53.40 minutes he was 40 hundredths faster than the current World Cup leader Thomas Kammerlander (AUT). Patrick Pigneter, another Italian, had a time of 0:54.08 minutes and came in third.
At the women’s qualification, Greta Pinggera (ITA) ranked first. She had a time of 0:54.93 minutes and was 66 hundredths faster than her teammate Evelin Lanthaler as well as the Austrian Tina Unterberger – both Lanthaler and Unterberger had a time of 0:55.59 minutes, they share the second rank.

At the men’s Nations’ Cup, Stefan Federer (ITA) ranked thirst, followed by the two Russians Jakov Bukin and Aleksey Martyanov. At the women’s Nations’ Cup, Alexandra Pfattner (ITA) was able to beat local hero Daniela Mittermair (ITA), who came in second with a gap of only eight hundredths to Pfattner. Lubov Starikova from Russia ranked third.

The final runs of the men and of the women as well as the team competition will be held on Sunday, January 29th.

Results:
http://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/grm-group-luge-world-cup-on-natural-track-3