The first winners of the current winter are Andrzej Laszczak/Damian Waniczek from Poland. “We had two prefect runs and the new material is excellent, just the sled is a bit too short”, says the smiling winner and adds: “or maybe we are just a bit too tall.” Their final preparation for the new season was held in Italy, “in Latzfons and here in Lungiarü we found great conditions, in Poland is no snow at all.” No preparation at all had Austria´s Reinhard Beer/Herbert Kögl. “I have been sick for the past four week and it is only due to the treatment of my doctor that today I am in a condition to race. So far we had exactly six runs together”, tells Herbert Kögl. Beer/Kögl finished second, just as last year when they were the eventual overall winners. “We are more than happy with this second place today, we have three weeks now to get ready for the next World Cup and we will work hard for that. I am convinced that we can challenge the best again.” Last year´s winners, Pawel Porschnev/Ivan Lazarev from Russia finished fourth in the first run, but with the second best time in the second run they managed to climb the podium and became third.

In the women´s event only one competition run was held on this very first race day. Russia´s reigning World Champion Ekatharina Lavrentjeva presented herself in excellent shape and took the lead. The strong Italian team of last season has been thinned out a bit, never the less two Italians are ranked second and third. It´s the sisters Renate and Christa Gietl all Italian hopes are mounted on, since Renate Kasslatter had a baby in October and Irene Mitterstieler is expecting hers in January. Barbara Abart retired. But with Imelda Gruber and Tamara Schwarz two youngsters are waiting to seize their opportunities. Which might be tomorrow already, when the race will be continued after the men´s first run.

In the men´s event one of the eternal medal contenders won´t be able to compete: Gerhard Pilz (AUT), five-times World Champion and reigning European Champion had a crash in the first training run and fractured two ribs. He expects to be back on track in January in Kindberg. The men´s event will start tomorrow, Sunday, at 9am.

Today´s results:

Doubleseaters Final Result:

1. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:31,21(1), 1:30,47(1), 3:01,68
2. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT), 1:31,64(3), 1:30,90(3), 3:02,54
3. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:32,10(4), 1:30,79(2), 3:02,89
4. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 1:31,24(2), 1:31,83(4), 3:03,07
5. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS), 1:33,25(6), 1:32,78(5), 3:06,03
6. Denis ALIMOV/Roman MOLISTOV (RUS), 1:33,60(7), 1:34,21(8), 3:07,81
7. Günther INNERBICHLER/Alex INNERBICHLER (ITA), 1:34,55(8), 1:1:34,04(7), 3:08,59
8. Thomas Weiss/Andreas LEITNER (ITA), 1:35,65(9), 1:33,38(6), 3:09,03

Women:
Standing after one competition run:

1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:25,59(1),
2. Christa GIETL (ITA), 1:25,73(2),
3. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:26,59 (3),
4. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:26,78(4),
5. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:26,78(4),
6. Karolina WANICZEK (POL), 1:26,97(6),
7. Julia VETLOVA (RUS), 1:27,37(7),
8. Imelda GRUBER (ITA), 1:27,63(8),
9. Tamara SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:27,89(9),
10. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:28,05(10),
11. Sandra MARINER (AUT), 1:28,24(11),
12. Michaela MAURER (GER), 1:28,34(12),