Aurach (ck) The Austrian cousins Wolfgang and Andreas Schopf took full risk and the result was a perfect run and the lead before tomorrow´s final. They need to catch up 20 points to win the Overall World Cup, but they are determined to do whatever it takes. The Russians Porschnev/Lazarev, who have had an excellent season and are still leading in the World Cup ranking are one second behind Schopf/Schopf. But all they need is a second place. So the Schopf cousins might need the help of their team-mates Beer/Kögl who are ranked second after the first run and might take away they crucial points from the Russians. So a breathtaking final for tomorrow evening is guaranteed.

In the women´s event Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) proved once more that for the time being nobody can beat her. Renate Kasslatter (ITA) has been the only one who could compete with her and has been leading in the World Cup for a long time. But the Italian gave up dreaming about the Overall World Cup quite a while ago: “I am fighting for the second place and for that it looks pretty good”, she said. With her third place after the first run, she laid a good basis for the final race.

The decision in the men´s event will be one within the Austrian team: three Austrians are leading after day one, on top of everybody once more five-time World Champion and double European Champion Gerhard Pilz: “It was a difficult race, the track was smoother than expected and therefore we all had some problems. I had a mistake in the second turn, but I did quite well in the following passages, that´s how my time margin can be explained.” Third after the first run, Gernot Schwab, found similar words: “I did not expect such a good time because I really had some troubles, but obviously everybody had problems, so this is why. The track was very difficult to race.”

Tomorrow, Saturday, the final runs will be started at 6pm and the top six double-seaters, top eight women and top twelve men will start racing from 8pm and will be shown live on tv (TW1 at ORF).

Results after one run:

Doubles (12):
1. Wolfgang Schopf/Andreas Schopf (AUT), 1:06,17
2. Reinhard Beer/Herbert Kögl (AUT), 1:07,04
3. Pawel Porschnev/Ivan Lazarev (RUS), 1:07,17
4. Andrzej Laszczak/Damian Waniczek (POL), 1:07,25
5. Armin Mair/Johannes Hofer (ITA), 1:07, 49
6. Günther Innerbichler/Alex Innerbichler (ITA), 1:7,77
7. Harald Kleinhofer/Gerhard Mühlbacher (AUT), 1:08,99
8. Simone Deme/Michael Squinabol (ITA),1:09,57

Women (19):
1. Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS), 1:03,52
2. Renate Gietl (ITA), 1:03,85
3. Renate Kasslatter (ITA), 1:04,15
4. Julia Vetlova (RUS), 1:04,17
5. Barbara Abart (ITA), 1:04,48
6. Sandra Mariner (AUT), 1:05,04
7. Marlies Wagner (AUT), 1:05,28
8. Ewelina Zurek (POL), 1:05,32
9. Karolina Waniczek (POL), 1:05,39
10. Christa Gietl (ITA), 1:06,02
11. Michaela Maurer (GER), 1:06,04
12. Anna Braun (AUT), 1:06,87
13. Melissa Jones (CAN), 1:07,64
14. Ursina Schneider (SUI), 1:09,33

Herren (36):
1. Gerhard Pilz (AUT), 1:02,05
2. Gerald Kallan (AUT), 1:02,42
3. Gernot Schwab (AUT), 1:02,68
4. Andreas Castiglioni (ITA), 1:02,79
5. Anton Blasbichler (ITA), 1:02,90
6. Patrik Pigneter (ITA), 1:02,97
7. Roland Kallan (AUT), 1:03,01
8. Robert Batkowski (AUT), 1:03,21
9. Rudi Resch (ITA), 1:03,23
10. Marcus Grausam (GER), 1:03,52
11. Ziga Pagon (SLO), 1:03,80
12. Borut Kralj (SLO), 1:03,98
13. Borut Fejfar (SLO), 1:04,36
14. Gaspar Benedik (SLO), 1:04,91
15. John Gibson (CAN), 1:05,41
16. Rudolf Schwarz (GER), 1:05,73
17. Christian Wichan (GER), 1:05,83
18. Corey Pusey (CAN), 1:05,93