Park City (pps) Austria’s Markus Kleinheinz missed his first ever win in the Viessmann Luge World Cup by just six thousandths of a second in Park City last Sunday. And nine months ago, his compatriot Markus Prock missed Olympic silver by twelve thousandths on the same track. Both finished just behind German Georg Hackl – and both on the same sled.

With Prock’s sled Markus Kleinheinz continues in Prock’s footsteps: The Tyrolese has never started a season so well, his best World Cup result was also a second-place finish in the last but one event at Sigulda in Latvia in the Olympic winter. But it was not just Markus Kleinheinz who let Austria’s lugers quickly forget that Markus Prock and Angelika Neuner have retired. A third place by Andreas and Wolfgang Linger in the doubles, a fourth by Rainer Margreiter in the men’s, and fourth, seventh and 15th ranks by Sonja Manzenreiter, Veronika Halder and World junior champion Nina Reithmayer made the red-white-red team the centre of attraction. „We deliberately did not boast about our strength, but I knew we wouldn’t be bad”, head coach Robert Manzenreiter disclosed. Tobias Schiegl, a two-time World champion in the doubles together with his cousin Markus, who finished sixth in the World Cup and the Olympics in Park City, is enthusiastic about the atmosphere in the team: “We have a lot of fun and trained hard in the summer.”

Austria’s luge squad has not just changed due to the retirement of its most famous athletes. Friedl Ludescher, the new President of the Austrian Luge Federation, very quickly implemented new structures. From the background Markus Prock discreetly pulls the strings and Angelika Neuner now works part-time at the Federation’s office. All that has already paid off in Park City.

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