The FIL Luge World Cup on natural track continued on Saturday with the second stage on the legendary "Grantau"-track in Umhausen (AUT). In the women's singles Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) took the victory, in the doubles the veterans Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) were unbeatable.

World champion Evelin Lanthaler won her 34th World Cup race in a superior manner with the best time in both runs. If the 30-year-old wasn't quite satisfied with her performance in the first run, she showed up in the second run and with a total time of 2:29.66 minutes she was the only starter to finish under the magic mark of 2:30 minutes. With a deficit of 0.88 seconds, Junior world champion Lisa Walch (GER) clinched her second podium in the World Cup within a week, closely followed by Greta Pinggera (ITA) in third place.

(from left) Lisa Walch (GER), Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) and Greta Pinggera (ITA)

“In the second run I really had to go all in today because the other athletes are in great form. Lisa Walch, in particular, is very competitive,” explained Lanthaler after her second win of the season, which means she is also in the lead in the overall standings with 200 points ahead of Walch (170) and Pinggera (140).

In the doubles, world champions Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) celebrated their second victory in the second race of the season. However, the veterans had to work hard for their 67th World Cup victory, because the young Tyrolean Fabian Achenrainer/Simon Achenrainer put a lot of pressure on them, especially in the second run. In the end, Pigneter/Clara showed their class and finished in 2:35.19 minutes, the Achenrainer cousins finished second only 0.31 seconds behind, the Russians Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev (+1.03 seconds) came third. Pigneter/Clara lead the overall ranking with 200 points, followed by Porshnev/Lazarev and Achenrainer/Achenrainer with 155 points each in second place.

67th victory for Pigneter/Clara (ITA)

“Today it is difficult to analyze the performance. In the first run we were slow in the upper part of the track and very fast in the last section, in the second run it was the other way around. It's very close at the moment, I'm glad we were able to win today," said Patrick Pigneter.

On Sunday it’s raceday for the men’s single on the 2021 World Championships track. The first run begins at 10 a.m. (CET) and the final run will start at 11.30 a.m. (CET). The race can be followed via livestream on the International Luge Federation website www.fil-luge.org/en/live-streaming-natural

Top three women’s single, Umhausen (AUT), 01/15/2022
1. Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) 2:29.66 minutes
2. Lisa Walch (GER) +0.88 seconds
3. Greta Pinggera (ITA) +0.97 seconds

Top three doubles, Umhausen (AUT), 01/15/2022
1. Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) 2:35.19 minutes
2. Fabian Achenrainer/Simon Achenrainer (AUT) +0.31 seconds
3. Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev (RUS) +1.03 seconds