Victory in doubles, victory in singles women, victory in singles men and victory in Team Competition. This is the balance of Italian athletes at the FIL Luge World Cup on Natural Track at the home World Cup in Nova Ponente/Deutschnofen (ITA).

The Pfösl Riep-Track and Alex Gruber (ITA) belong together. The World Champion and World Cup Leader celebrated his 5th victory in a row on the high-speed track in South Tyrol. After the first run on Saturday Gruber was only in third position, but with a full power ride on Sunday morning he took the win. With a time of 53.57 seconds Gruber sets a new track record and dismissed Thomas Kammerlander (AUT) and the half-time leader Patrick Pigneter (ITA) on the courts. "Yesterday I just drove badly. But the second run went really well“, Alex Gruber explained after his third win of the season. "Everyone knows that Gruber is (almost) unbeatable in Deutschnofen. I'm happy with the second place“, said Thomas Kammerlander, who is now 30 points behind Gruber in the overall standings.

5th victory for Lanthaler
Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) is unstoppable: In the first run on Saturday she set a new track record (54.10 seconds) and on Sunday the World Cup Leader scored with a time of 54.26 seconds to the next triumph. Lanthaler celebrated her 5th season victory in a row, 1.80 seconds ahead of Ekaterina Lavrenteva (RUS) and last year's winner Greta Pinggera (ITA). "It was not easy, because the track here is really demanding. Still, it was a perfect weekend for me“,  said Evelin Lanthaler, who is now 135 points ahead of Ekaterina Lavrenteva and Greta Pinggera in the overall standings.
 

In the team competition Italy has the second victory of the season in the books: Evelin Lanthaler / Patrick Pigneter / Alex Gruber (ITA) took the win, Tina Unterberger / Michael Scheikl / Thomas Kammerlander (AUT) follows in second, and Ekaterina Lavrenteva / Aleksandr Egorov / Gregori Bukin (RUS) in third position. After three team competitions Italy has 2 victories (Kühtai and Deutschnofen), Austria won in Winterleiten (AUT).

The next stop in the FIL Luge World Cup on Natural Track is Vatra Dornei (ROU) from February  8th-10th. The World Championships in Latzfons (ITA) is scheduled the upcoming week (31.01.-03.02.2019).