After a break of four weeks the Natural Track Luge World Cup will be continued this weekend. The race will be hosted by Kindberg which recommended itself for further events with the excellent World Junior Championships in 2003. With Kindberg and Olang – only one week later – half of the World Cup season will be competed. Nonetheless the World Cup will be more open than it has been in other winters after half the races. Due to another long break during the Torino Olympic Winter Games (Feb. 10th to 26th) there will e time to make material adjustments. On the other hand it is more difficult to keep top shape for full three months. In Lungiarue only Austria´s Gerald Kammerlander could challenge the Italian men´s team. It will be seen whether the Austrians could use the four weeks break to find back to old qualities. In the doubleseater´s ranking the Russians showed a strong team performance. Whereas in former seasons almost all the podiums were taken by Porshnev/Lazarev, in Lungiarue suddenly three Russian doubles could be spotted among the top six. Their female team mate Ekatharina Lavrentjeva already dominated the field but will be attacked by Austria as well as Italy. However, the race in Kindberg will be a restart of the season and it is to be seen who will come to Austria best prepared.

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