Novouralsk (ck) - With her 13th consecutive win Ekatharina Lavrentjeva could not surprise anybody, but the face next to her was new on the podium. Tina Unterberger (AUT) had already impressed with good training results and managed to repeat her performance in the race. Ranked third after the first run, she could pass Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) in the second run and finished second which was her first top-three result in the world cup. The secret of her success is her new trainer team, she said: “I have four new coaches and all four have been world champions: Robert Batkowski, Gerald Kammerlander, Christian Schatz und Gernot Schwab”, who have to be listed alphabetically, “as they are all equally important”. In her preparation for this winter, everything was turned upside down. “We changed everything, took the sled apart and rebuilt it, I was desperate because at the beginning everything just became worse and worse. Then “Batti, the sled doctor” (Robert Batkowski) worked a miracle and suddenly all was good.” Tina Unterberger`s second place ended Austria’s long streak without a podium finish. After Melanie Batkowski’s retirement, no Austrian woman made the top three for the whole last season. Austria`s last win actually lies four years in the past. Melanie Batkowski was the last Austrian winner in December 2009 in Novouralsk. Evelin Lanthaler was not exactly happy about her performance “but glad that I made the podium” – for the first time in Novouralsk. “This is not really my track here, somehow I have a lot of respect for those side boards here, and of course you have this somewhere at the back of your mind.” But as almost all of the athletes, she is also looking forward to the parallel event in two weeks at Seiser Alm/Völs. In the men’s event it looked until close to the end as if Michael Scheikl (AUT) could upset Patrick Pigneter (ITA), but at the very end the serial winner was ahead again. Pigneter claimed his 33rd world cup. “Michael had a good race” Pigneter said, “and we both knew that we would have to go full risk in the final run. We both made mistakes, but maybe in the second run I made less mistakes.” Michael Scheikl finished second behind Pigneter for the third consecutive time now. “Of course it is a bit annoying”, he said, “but it was obvious that it would be a tight race. But I am not far away, at this point it is also a bit of luck which decides between win or defeat.” The third place went – to his own surprise – to Alex Gruber (ITA). “I did not very well in the training run, so I did not even hope for a podium finish. But then, for the first run, I managed to tune my sled really well. This was a team effort, as within the Italian team we all help each other and work together.” In the team event Russia claimed the first place and for a change the always calm Ekatherina Lavrentjeva showed some nerves: „I never have a problem in the singles race, but when you are in the team, you think too much and then suddenly you make mistakes.“ But she scored the fastest run time once again and Russia won ahead of Italy and Austria. Turkey as a new comer in the luge sport, finished fourth. Final Results Women: 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:00,17(1), 1:00,45(19; 2:00,62 2. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:01,86 (3), 1:01,62(2), 2:03,48 3. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 1:01,80 (2), 1:02,40(3), 2:04,20 4. Liudmila AKSENENKO (RUS), 1:02,06(4), 1:02,76(4), 2:04,82 5. Christina GÖTSCHL (AUT), 1:03,88(6), 1:03,96(5), 2:07,84 6. Petra DRAGICEVIC (SLO), 1:04,34(7), 1:04,14(6), 2:08,48 7. Michaela NIEMETZ (GER), 1:06,18(8), 1:06,63(8), 2:12,81 8. Svitlana KRAVCHUK (UKR), 1:09,69(10), 1:06,53(7), 2:16,22 World Cup Ranking Women (1/7): 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 100 points 2. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT) 85 3. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA) 70 4. Liudmila AKSENENKO (RUS) 60 5. Christina GÖTSCHL (AUT) 55 6. Petra DRAGICEVIC (SLO) 50 7. Michaela NIEMETZ (GER) 46 8. Svitlana KRAVCHUK (UKR) 42 Final Results Men: 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 0:59,52(2), 0:59,33(1), 1:58,85 2. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 0:59,47(1), 0:59,63(2), 1:59,10 3. Alex GRUBER (ITA), 1:00,11(4), 0:59,82(3), 1:59,93 4. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:00,12(5), 0:59,98(4), 2:00,10 5. Florian CLARA (ITA), 1:00,06(3), 1:00,81(8), 2:00,87 6. Stanislav KOVSHIK (RUS), 1:00,39(6), 1:00,55(6), 2:00,94 7. Aleksandr EGOROV (RUS), 1:00,89(9), 1:00,35(5), 2:01,24 8. Gregorii BUKIN (RUS), 1:00,94(10), 1:00,55(6), 2:01,49 World Cup Ranking Men (1/7): 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 100 points 2. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT) 85 3. Alex GRUBER (ITA) 70 4. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 60 5. Florian CLARA (ITA) 55 6. Stanislav KOVSHIK (RUS) 50 7. Aleksandr EGOROV (RUS) 46 8. Gregorii BUKIN (RUS) 42 9. Jurii TALIKH (RUS) 39 10. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT) 36 11. Florian GLATZL (AUT) 34 12. Christian WICHAN (GER) 32 Final Results Team Event: 1. Russia (Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA, Stanislav KOVSHIK, Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV) 2. Italy (Evelin LANTHALER, Alex GRUBER, Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA) 3. Austria (Tina UNTERBERGER, Michael SCHEIKL, Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF) 4. Turkey (Asuman BAYRAK, Isa GUEZELOGLU, Muhammet DELLALBASI/Muhammet OZCAN)