Pigneter/Clara won World Cup opener at Kühtai

Kühtai (PMA) - World Cup on Natural Track 2015/16 started with a parallel event. As in 2014 Kühtai in Austria was host of the race. Side by side the athletes competed at two similar tracks. First event was the Doubles race. Patrick Pigneter and Florian Clara won the season opener, as in 2014. The Italian duo celebrated their 35th World Cup victory. “The biggest challenge is that you don't know the track before the race. It was a big fight against the opponents today and we are very happy with our victory", states Patrick Pigneter.

Runner-Up of the final were the two Austrians Christoph Regensburger and Dominik Holzknecht. They missed their maiden victory by 0.49 seconds. „After we spoiled the qualification we are overjoyed with our result. We haven't expected to participate in the Big Final. The decisive moment of the final run was at the last corner, where Pigneter/Clara won the race today", explained Dominik Holzknecht.

In a Russian Small Final Aleksandr Egorov and Petr Popov won and finished third. Last year they placed second at the Overall World Cup behind Pigneter/Clara. Fourth place went to Stanislav Kovshik and Ilya Tarassov. After a sabbatical year Andreas and Christian Schopf finished fifth, after winning the qualification.

Results 1st Doubles World Cup at Kühtai:
1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA)
2. Christoph REGENSBURGER/Dominik HOLZKNECHT (AUT)
3. Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV (RUS)
4. Stanislav KOVSHIK/Ilya TARASOV (RUS)
-- out in Quarterfinals --
5. Andreas SCHOPF/Christian SCHOPF (AUT)
6. Armin FOLIE/Elias GRUBER (ITA)
7. Tadej DRAGICEVIC/Petra DRAGICEVIC (SLO)
8. Isa GUZELOGLU/Muhammet-Sait OZCAN (TUR)

World Cup Standings:
1. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA 100
2. Christoph REGENSBURGER/Dominik HOLZKNECHT (AUT) 85
3. Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV (RUS) 70