Seiser Alm (ck) - The organizers expect a record number of participants in the first parallel race in ten years. Almost 100 athletes from nearly 20 nations have entered their names for the race this weekend. Not many of today’s stars have been around for the last parallel race, but they all agree: anything new in the natural track world cup is great. The 50 men, 30 woman and approximately 15 doubles will compete in a direct elimination table after one run on the red side and one run on the blue side of the track. The position in the table depends on the rank in the qualification. The fastest meats the slowest and so on. In the past parallel races have always held surprises. Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) for example has never won in a parallel race. In the three races so far (two in Triesenberg, Liechtenstein, one at Seiser Alm – the very first one in Völs was a test event ony and did not count for the world cup) she finished third twice and missed the podium once. Then again, this was at the beginning of her career. In the men’s event Marcus Grausam (GER) could claim his only world cup win in the last parallel race ten years ago. He is one of the few athletes who were around ten years ago and are still active. Poland’s Andrzej Laszczak/Damian Waniczek proved to be masters of the parallel mode. They won the races at Seiser Alm in 2002 and in Triesenberg 2004, in the world cup debut of the parallel event in the season 2001/02 they finished third. However, they missed the world cup opening in Novouralsk (RUS) this season. Interesting races can be expected, starting with first results after the qualification runs on Saturday afternoon. The GRM World Cup finals will all be held in the evening at floodlight. Track Info Seiser Alm/Alpedi Siusi: Length: 300m Start Elevation: 1872m Finish Elevation: 1839m Difference: 33m Average Drop: 11% Maximum Drop: 17% Number of Curves: 6 Program at Seiser Alm/Alpe di Siusi: Saturday, 04.01.2014 11.00am: Team Captain’s Meeting and Draw 2.00pm: Training and Qualification Women and Men 4.30pm: Training and Qualification Doubles 5.30pm: Opening Ceremony 6.30pm: Nations Cup Doubles 7.00pm: GRM World Cup Doubles 8.00pm: Medal Ceremony Doubles Sunday, 05.01.2014 3.00pm: Nations Cup Men and Women 5:30pm: GRM World Cup Round of 16 and 8 for Men and Women 8.00pm: Medal Ceremonies Men and Women