Lavrentjeva (RUS) and Pigneter (ITA) win PEWO Overall World Cup First World Cup win for Melanie Batkowski (AUT) Fourteen times Melanie Batkowski (AUT) has been standing on the World Cup podium before she eventually could claim the top spot. With her win she also ended a streak of four years in which Austria´s women could not win a race. Sandra Mariner had been the last one to win, on February 14th 2004. Batkowski´s tactics for winning the race were simple: “Yesterday I crashed into the board, so I decided to skip the wall today”, said the happy winner and cried tears of joy. Ekatharina Lavrentjeva – the old and the new overall World Cup winner – needed to finish ahead of Renate Gietl to win the PEWO World Cup. This she achieved with “a good first run and taking no risk in the second run”, she said. She was not stressed by the fact that all the Russian spectators laid all their hopes on her. “I just raced as always, tried not to think too much.” Renate Gietl, even though she was defeated by Lavrentjeva, kept her positive attitude: “This track here is definitely not made for me. My big goal of the season was to become World Champion and this I have reached. So I am not unhappy now about today.” Her last performance gave Renate Kasslatter (ITA), who already at the World Championships announced her plans to quit her career. She will retire with two World Cup wins, four second and two third places. Patrick Pigneter has won the Overall World Cup the fourth time in a row and now holds this record together with fellow Italian Anton Blasbichler, who has won the trophy in the seasons 1995/96, 1996/97, 2003/05 and 2004/05. At the beginning of the winter it did not look like Pigneter would be able to add another flawless season: “It started with my crash in the first race in St. Sebastian, but from then on I have to say that all went really well.” He stands at 15 World Cup wins now and winning the World Champion title completed another great year for the young Italian. Rookie of the year is definitely Thomas Schopf, who finished second in today´s race as well as in the PEWO World Cup. “I am absolutely satisfied, this was my first full season in the World Cup and finish it on the second place, this is fantastic,” said the 19-year-old Austrian and already has a plan for improvements: “Until September I will work in the construction company where I did my job training, then I will start working in our family run company Sams. Then I will have a lot more time to work out and practise and I will be well prepared for the next season.” Additional motivation gave him his fastest time in the second run: “Beating Pigneter in the very last run of the year was the perfect ending.” The season has also a happy end for Gernot Schwab (AUT), who managed to put himself on the third place in the Overall World Cup. “If somebody had told me that at the beginning of the season when I was just experimenting this and that, I never would have believed this. I am really satisfied, with two third places I reached the maximum here. I know that with the sun shining into the track it was just a question of time and my equipment would not have fitted any more, but it all went well and I am happy.” Final Result Women (13): 1. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:02,40(2), 1:02,35(1), 2:04,75 2. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:02,35(1), 1:02,69(2), 2:05,04 3. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:02,87(3), 1:03,12(3), 2:05,99 4. Julia VETLOVA (RUS),1:03,47(4), 1:03,37(5), 2:06,84 5. Renate KASSLATTER (ITA), 1:03,57(5), 1:03,3084), 2:06,87 6. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:04,40(6), 1:05,27(6), 2:09,67 7. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 1:04,56(7), 1:05,57(8), 2:10,13 8. Alena ASCHEULOWA (RUS), 1:05,48(9), 1:05,33(7), 2:10,81 Final Result Men (30): 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:00,91(1), 1:01,43(2), 2:02,34 2. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:01,43(2), 1:01,40(1), 2.02,83 3. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1:01,72(3), 1:01,93(5), 2:03,65 4. Rudi RESCH (ITA), 1:01,95(5), 1:01,75(4), 2:03,70 5. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 1:01,80(4), 1:02,06(6), 2:03,86 6. Hannes CLARA (ITA), 1:02,09(6), 1:02,47(7), 2:04,56 7. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:03,22(14), 1:01,65(3), 2:04,87 8. Florian CLARA (ITA), 1:02,38(8), 1:02,58(8), 2:04,96 9. Stefan GRUBER (ITA), 2:04,98 10. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 2:05,67 11. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 2:05,83 12. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 2:06,28 13. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN), 2:06,29 14. Marcus GRAUSAM (GER), 2:06,93 16. John GIBSON (CAN), 2:07,76 19. Greg JONES (CAN), 2:08,69 Final World Cup Result (6/6 after deduction of drop result): Women´s Singles: 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 455 2. Renate GIETL (ITA) 440 3. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT) 410 4. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA) 300 5. Renate KASSLATTER (ITA) 285 6. Julia VETLOVA (RUS) 266 7. Marlies WAGNER (AUT) 252 8. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT) 198 9. Tamara SCHWARZ (ITA) 173 10. Nina BUCINEL (SLO) 167 Men´Singles: 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 485 2. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT) 395 6. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT) 324 5. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT) 303 3. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 296 7. Hannes CLARA (ITA) 277 4. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT) 260 8. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA) 252 9. Rudi RESCH (ITA) 235 10. Stefan GRUBER (ITA) 201 15. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN) 134 19. John GIBSON (CAN) 101 29. Greg JONES (CAN) 71 ck FIL Media Service