Moscow (ck) So far no male athlete ever managed to win all races in one World Cup season. Anton Blasbichler (ITA) might be the first one to do so. In Moscow not even the 6th position after the first run kept him from winning the race.
"I hoped that maybe I could make it up to the podium. That I finally won the race was luck. But now and then you just have luck, especially when you have such a streak which I am having now." And even though his second run scored the fastest time, it was not a perfect run.
"I was way too fast in the final curve, but thank God the finish line was not too far away." So far he has not made any calculations about the overall World Cup. "I go race by race and I know that one little injury can change the picture completely."
His strongest competitor Gernot Schwab from Austria sees the situation differently: "The first place is clearly out of control. But I am happy about my 290 points and I think this puts me in quite a good position for the fight for the places behind Toni." Gernot Schwab had been the leader after the first run and missed his first World Cup victory closely once again. "Of course I was angry in the first moment. But I have to say that I have been lucky. If I had touched the wall after the mistake I made, I probably would have been off the podium." Gerald Kallan was satisfied, too. "After my bad result in Garmisch which had no particular reason except maybe that I did not get along with the track very well, I am happy that now I am back where I was before Garmisch." Gerald Kallan had expected what actually happened in the second run: "On such a short track everybody had to take full risk and I knew that some racers would make mistakes and fall behind. I am glad that for me it worked out well and I even could improve my position from third to second."
One of those athletes who took too much risk was Aleksei Lebedev. Second after the first run, he had a bad second run (12th) and finally finished fifth. Still, it was a strong comeback as Lebedev had to take a break of a whole season due to a strange disease which finally required surgery for a full recovery. A strong life sign was shown by Marcus Grausam from Germany. He scored the third best time in the second run and only because of his bad first run (13th) he had to settle for the 8th final rank.
The RED BULL World Cup will take a one weeks break now as the coming weekend the Juniors World Championships will be held in Kindberg, Austria. After that the World Cup will be continued in Liechtenstein.
Results of Friday:
1. Anton Blasbichler (ITA), 38,24 (6), 37,74 (1), 1:15,98
2. Gerald Kallan (AUT), 38,20 (3), 37,85 (2), 1:16,05
3. Gernot Schwab (AUT), 37,69 (1), 38,37 (6), 1:16,06
4. Gerhard Pilz (AUT), 38,23 (5), 38,08 (4), 1:16,31
5. Aleksei Lebedev (RUS), 37,80 (2), 38,95 (12), 1:16,75
6. Roland Kallan (AUT), 38,65 (9), 38,27 (5), 1:16,92
7. Robert Batkowski (AUT), 38,21 (4), 38,78 (9), 1:16,99
8. Gerald Kammerlander (AUT), 38,67 (10), 38,61 (7), 1:17,28
Marcus Grausam (GER), 39,39 (13), 37,89 (3), 1:17,28
10. Georg Maurer (GER), 38,51 (8), 38,84 (10), 1:17,35
11. Andrej Kilin (RUS), 38,85 (11), 38,77 (8), 1:17,62
12. Martin Psenner (ITA), 38,30 (7), 39,44 (13), 1:17,74
World Cup Standing:
1. Anton Blasbichler (ITA) 400 points
2. Gernot Schwab (AUT) 290
3. Gerald Kallan (AUT) 247
4. Robert Batkowski (AUT) 202
5. Andreas Castiglioni (ITA) 196
6. Roland Kallan (AUT) 185
7. Gerhard Pilz (AUT) 180
8. Gerald Kammerlander (AUT) 176
9. Martin Psenner (ITA) 172
10. Florian Breitenberger (ITA) 148
11. Marcus Grausam (GER) 146
12. Georg Maurer (GER) 106
