Passeier/Passirio (ck) - „I had to give it all to win here. When the times are so tight, you cannot afford one tiny mistake”, said serial winner Patrick Pigneter (ITA), who had been in the second position after the first run. And once again it was Thomas Kammerlander (AUT) who had the chance to push Pigneter off the throne. “I actually think I could have won, but it was so tight after the first run and we all had to take full risk. I made two small mistakes but at the end they made the difference. However, I am satisfied with the second place”, said Kammerlander, who will come to his home race in Umhausen next week as one of the top medal contenders. His goal for the European Championship which is held together with a world cup in a race-in-race format: “A medal would be nice.” The only one who managed to finish on the podium in each race this season, is Michael Scheikl (AUT), this time he finished third. “The track here in Passeier is known for its narrow time differences. I did well in the upper part of the track, but for the long straight in the lower part I do not weigh enough. Then again, I have advantages in narrow curves. This season has started really well and I hope it will go on like that”, said Scheikl. Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS), who had had to give up her leading position for one full week, claimed her 48th world cup win and put herself back on top. She was not even sure she had won: “I could not see the time and I had no feeling about how well I did in the final part. Yesterday I really screwed up the final straight, today I did much better. Passeier is not an easy track for me, I prefer tracks with more curves.” As so often the real competition was for the places behind her. Runner up Greta Pinggera (ITA) said aggressively: “Obviously I am closing to gap to her.” And indeed, her final time was only nine hundredths slower than the Russian’s, in the first run she missed her by three hundredths of a second. “I had some problems at the beginning of the winter, so I missed the race in Russia, a parallel race is always a bit of a lottery, so now I am lacking important points in the overall ranking. I just take it from race to race now”, said Pinggera. Not entirely happy was local star Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) about her third place: “I know I could have done better. I am angry with myself, I did not have one perfect run. To race on a home track is always an advantage as well as a disadvantage as everybody has expectations. However, I was very pleased with my fastest run time in the second run.” The winner in the team event was the Italian team. Ranks two and three went to Russia and Austria respectively. 15-year-old Theresa Maurer from Germany achieved the second fastest run time in the women’s category, only defeated by Ekatherina Lavrentjeva. The German team with Marcus Grausam and the newly formed double Christian Wichan/Oliver Schiller finished fifth right after Poland. In the Nation’s Cup with a record entry field of 21, the winner was Anton Blasbichler (ITA) ahead of Stefan Gruber (ITA) and Florian Glatzl (AUT). Athletes who did not qualify for the World Cup due to the national quote of only four men and three women, participate in the Nation’s Cup. Final Result GRM World Cup Men: 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 0:54,42(2), 0:54,44(1), 1:48,86 2. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 0:54,37(1), 0:54,67(4), 1:49,04 3. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 0:54,64(3), 0:54,58(2), 1:49,22 4. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA), 0:54,76(5),0:54,66(3), 1:49,42 5. Alex GRUBER (ITA), 0:54,73(4), 0:54,80(5), 1:49,53 6. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 0:55,08(6), 0:55,41(6), 1:50,49 7. Jurii TALIKH (RUS), 0:55,37(7), 0:55,48(7), 1:50,85 8. Florian CLARA (ITA), 0:55,37(7), 0:55,73(10), 1:51,10 GRM World Cup Ranking Men (3/7): 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 260 2. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 245 3. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT) 240 4. Alex GRUBER (ITA) 164 5. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA) 130 6. Aleksandr EGOROV (RUS) 124 7. Jurii TALIKH (RUS) 113 8. Stanislav KOVSHIK (RUS) 110 9. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT) 109 10. Gregorii BUKIN (RUS) 108 Final Results GRM World Cup Women: 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 0:57,39(1), 0:56,10(2), 1:53,49 2. Greta PINGGERA (ITA), 0:57,42(2), 0:56,16(3), 1:53,58 3. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 0:57,63(3), 0:56,00(1), 1:53,63 4. Carmen PLANÖTSCHER (ITA), 0:57,63(3), 0:56,79(6), 1:54,42 5. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 0:57,96(5), 0:56,58(4), 1:54,54 6. Theresa MAURER (GER), 0:58,08(6), 0:56,69(5), 1:54,77 7. Maria AUER (AUT), 0:58,80(8), 0:57,29(7), 1:56.09 8. Michaela MAURER (GER), 0:58,74(7), 0:57,50(8), 1:56,24 GRM World Cup Ranking Women (3/7): 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 255 2. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT) 225 3. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA) 179 4. Liudmila AKSENENKO (RUS) 169 5. Carmen PLANÖTSCHER (ITA) 160 6. Christina GÖTSCHL (AUT) 123 7. Great PINGGERA (ITA) 121 8. Petra DRAGICEVIC (SLO) 112 9. Michaela NIEMETZ (GER) 98 10. Theresa MAURER (GER) 96 Final Results Team Event GRM World Cup (9): 1. Italy (Greta PINGGERA, Florian BREITENBERGER, Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA) 2. Russia (Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA, Jurii TALIKH, Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV) 3. Austria (Tina UNTERBERGER, Thomas KAMMERLANDER, Christoph REGENSBURGER/Dominik HOLZKNECHT) 4. Poland 5. Germany 6. Turkey