The night race in Jaufental/Val Giovo (ITA) on Saturday evening almost turned into a total triumph for the hosts. Both in the doubles and in the women's singles there was a triple victory for the “Azzurri”, only in the men's singles did Michael Scheikl (AUT) prevent another triple victory for the hosts.
Jaufental/Val Giovo (FIL/01/14/2023) On the 658 meter long "Tonnerboden"-track, the hosts delivered a show of force at the World Cup premiere. In the doubles in the afternoon, Friday's winners, Patrick Lambacher/Matthias Lambacher (ITA), celebrated their fourth win in a row with a total time of 1:49.33 minutes. The brothers from Villnöß valley were already in the lead after the first run and set a new track record of 54.59 seconds in the second run. Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) followed 0.88 seconds behind, third place for Anton Gruber Genetti/Hannes Unterholzner (ITA/+0.93 seconds).
Lambacher/Lambacher still remain unbeaten in this season
“This time we were really fast in the first run, and it was even better in the second run. It just works”, Matthias Lambacher explained at the winner's interview.
In the overall standings, Lambacher/Lambacher are in the lead after four of seven races with 400 points, followed by Pigneter/Clara with 340 points and the Slovenians Matevz Vertelj/Vid Kralj (240 points).
In the women's singles, local heroine Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) celebrated her 39th World Cup victory in 1:44.02 minutes with the best time in both runs, ahead of her teammates Greta Pinggera (+0.55 seconds) and Daniela Mittermair (+1.33 seconds). In the final part of the decisive run, Lanthaler ignited the turbo and increased her advantage from 0,01 seconds to 0,55.
Happy faces: Greta Pinggera (ITA), Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) and Daniela Mittermair (ITA)
"A first ever victory is always special, I'm happy that I can celebrate this special experience together with my teammates on the podium," said Lanthaler, who actually doesn't want to talk about the possible 40th World Cup victory on Sunday.
First podium of the season for Daniela Mittermair
In the overall standings, Lanthaler leads after three of seven races with 300 points, followed by Tina Unterberger (AUT) and Greta Pinggera with 215 and 201 points respectively.
The third winner of the season in the third race is in the book in the men's singles: European Champion Alex Gruber (ITA) beat Michael Scheikl (AUT/+0.11 seconds) in 1:42.08 minutes. Gruber and Scheikl each made a leap forward with the best time in the second run, because the half-time leader - the reigning Junior World Champion Fabian Brunner (ITA) - dropped to third place, with the same time as his teammate Florian Clara (+0.16). World Champion Thomas Kammerlander (AUT) didn't quite get along and ended up fifth (+0.42).
A podium for four: (from left) Michael Scheikl (AUT), Alex Gruber (ITA), Florian Clara (ITA and Fabian Brunner (ITA)
"I'm surprised that it was enough to win," said Gruber, "because the profile of this track is more of an 'Austrian track'. I'm excited to see who will finish on top on Sunday."
Scheikl, who has been on the podium in all three races so far, leads the overall standings with 270 points, followed by Gruber (245) and Kammerlander (225).
The World Cup premiere in Jaufental/Val Giovo ends on Sunday with the men's and women's single-seater races from 10 a.m. The races will be broadcast live on the homepage of the FIL luge association at www.fil-luge.org
The program of the FIL World Cup in natural track luge in Jaufental/Val Giovo (ITA)
Sunday, 01/15/2022
First run men’s singles (10 a.m.)
First run women’s singles (11 a.m.)
Final run men‘s singles (11.45 a.m.)
Final run women's singles (12.30 p.m.), followed by award ceremonies
