Cesana-Pariol (pps) The national Italian championships carried out on the Olympic track in Cesana-Pariol in front of more than 1,000 spectators were a successful rehearsal for the upcoming FIL European Championships on January 12-13, 2008.

Armin Zoeggeler is still undefeated. He claimed the title, defeating runner-up Wilfried Huber by more than a second. David Mair took the third place. Quite surprisingly, Sandra Gasparini became national champion in the women’s event, defeating Italian-Canadian Sarah Podorieszach by a mere 52 thousands of a second. Third place went to Michaela Kammerer.

Fierce competition in the doubles’ event: Christian Oberstolz-Patrick Gruber eventually captured the title ahead of Gerhard Plankensteiner-Oswald Haselrieder and Hans Peter Fischnaller-Gerhard Kofler. Achim Obkircher achieved the national junior title.

Daniel Pfister won the Austrian national championships in the men’s event, Veronika Halder claimed the title in the women’s event and Tobias Schiegl-Markus Schiegel became national doubles’ champions, setting up a new track record.