Pigneter/Clara defend their title at Passeier

Passeier (PMA) - Patrick Pigneter and Florian Clara are the new and old European Champions at the doubles event on natural track. They win ahead of Austrian Christian and Andreas Schopf. Third place went to Pavel Porshnev and Ivan Lazarev from Russia, who won the title four times.

The 26th European Championships at Luge on Natural Track are hosted from 5th to 7th February at Passeier Valley in Italy. On the first day of the event, the doubles race was scheduled. Patrick Pigneter and Florian Clara are the new champions after two competition runs. The Overall World Cup winners from Italy left no doubt who will win the gold medal. They won after two perfect runs with an advantage of 82 hundredths. Silver and bronze went to Austria and Russia.

Austrian brothers Christian and Andreas Schopf finished second with two strong runs. Pavel Porshnev and Ivan Lazarev placed third, 29 hundredths behind the silver medal. Fourth and fifth place went to Austria. Christoph Regensburger and Dominik Holzknecht ended up fourth ahead of their teammates Rupert Brüggler and Tobias Angerer. Co-favourites Aleksandr Egorov and Petr Popov finished sixth.

RESULTS DOUBLES (after two competition runs):
GOLD: Patrick PIGNETER / Florian CLARA (ITA) 2:02.03
SILVER: Christian SCHOPF / Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 2:02.85
BRONZE: Pavel PORSHNEV / Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 2:03.14
4. Christoph REGENSBURGER / Dominik HOLZKNECHT (AUT) 2:03.67
5. Rupert BRÜGGLER / Tobias ANGERER (AUT) 2:04.53
6. Aleksandr EGOROV / Petr POPOV (RUS) 2:04.69