Familiar Winners on a New Continent For the first time in the history of Natural Track Luge a World Cup race was held on the Asian continent – and the same faces are found on the podium. Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) won also the race in Novouralsk and celebrated their tenth World Cup win. “I like the track here and I do not mind the little bumps, just the other way round, I think they are in my favour”, said Pigneter. The secret of his success: “A great partner, some talent and a lot of training”. Pigneter is one of the few athletes who can fully concentrate on their athletic career: “I have a part time job and I can practise whenever I want.” Not really happy were Pawel Porschnev/Ivan Lazarev (RUS) who finished second and so practically lost their chance to win the overall World Cup just on their home soil, even though they achieved the fastest time in the second run. “In both runs we had mistakes just after the first intermediate time. For Friday we will have to come up with a new plan. We have to improve our equipment as well as our sledding”, said Porschnev. To win the PEWO Overall World Cup the Russians will have to win the next race and Pigneter/Clara have to finish fourth at the best. The third place went to the rookies of this season, Christian and Andreas Schopf. “It is a difficult track, very challenging with some bumps. You have to adjust to it and it takes a lot of feeling. In our first run we were a bit too much on the brakes,” said Christian Schopf in a first analysis and also sees room for improvement: “We need to work on our equipment and optimize the settings, but we also can improve our own technique. However, we will be well prepared for Friday, we will go jogging, practise and strive for the first place.” The sixth and last double´s race in the PEWO World Cup will be held on Friday, February 24th. Final Results Doubles: 1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA), 1:05,23(1), 1:05,23(2), 2:11,08 2. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:05,68(2), 1:05,82(1), 2:11,50 3. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:06,14(3), 1:06,14(3), 2:12,28 4. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:06,72(4), 1:06,93(5), 2:13,65 5. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS), 1:08,26(8), 1:06,76(4), 2:15,02 6. Thomas WEISS/Andreas LEITER (ITA), 1:07,48(5), 1:08,41(7), 2:15,89 10. Kaj JOHNSON/Greg JONES (CAN), 1:10,25(10), 1:15,77(11), 2:26,02 World Cup Standings: Doubles (5/6): 1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA) 470 2. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 430 3. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 335 4. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 296 5. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT) 267 6. Thomas WEISS/Andreas LEITER (ITA) 266 7. Aleksandr EGEROV/Aleksandr POPOV (RUS) 258 8. Thomas KAMMERLANDER/Christoph REGENSBURGER (AUT) 173 9. Stanislav KOVSHIK/Roman MOLVISTOV (RUS) 156 10. Kaj JOHNSON/Greg JONES (CAN) 106 ck FIL Media Service