Sonja Steinacher (ITA), winner of last year´s overall World Cup commented her seventh World Cup victory with the words: “The winner is the one with least stones in the track”. She said it with a smile and added: “But of course we all appreciate the work the organizers have done. It must have been an incredible job to get this track ready in the middle of green meadows.” Obviousely less luck and more stones in the track had Marlies Wagner, the 17-year-old Austrian who surprisingly finished second in Umhausen. She was second again after the first run, but only 9th in the second run: “I hit some stones and when I reached the finish I had ruined my sledge.” <br>Due to the warm weather the schedule had to be changed and the race of the doubleseaters was decided in only one run. This time the winners of Umhausen, Beer/Kögl were beaten by three hundreds of a second by their Austrian team mates Peter Lechner and Peter Braunegger. “When it gets that close you don´t have to look for the mistake you have made, this is just luck”, states Herbert Kögl. They were not too annoyed by having only one run. “When the conditions are like that you have to accept it. This is certainly better than another cancellation.”<br><br>Another change of schedule was that the men´s first run was also held today. By the time they had started their race rain had set in and the track was in even worse condition. Peter Pilz, five-times World Champion and leader in the RED BULL World Cup even wanted to go home today. “You can´t change the conditions, but as an athlete you have the choice whether you want to be part of this. I am not going to ruin my sledge two weeks before the World Championships.” However, after some talks to the trainers he decided to stay and try to break into the triple lead of the Italians tomorrow.<br><br><b>Results Men´s Doubleseater:</b><br><br>1. Peter LECHNER/Peter BRAUNEGGER (AUT), 1:01.76<br>2. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT), 1:01.79<br>3. Armin MAIR/David MAIR (ITA), 1:01.92<br>4. Eddy PERRIN/Emanuele GIANELLI (ITA), 1:02.92<br>5. Thomas GRAF/Michael GRAF (ITA), 1:02.39<br>6. Wolfgang SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:02.68<br><br>World Cup Ranking after two races (of six):<br><br>1. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT) 185 points<br>2. Peter LECHNER/Peter BRAUNEGGER (AUT) 160<br>3. Wolfgang SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 135<br>4. Armin MAIR/David MAIR (ITA) 130<br>Eddy PERRIN/Emanuele GIANNELLI 130<br><br><b>Results Women (15 starters):</b><br><br>1. Sonja STEINACHER (ITA), 1:00.49 (1), 1:00.36 (5), 2:00.85<br>2. Sandra MARINER (AUT), 1:01.07 (4), 0:59.85 (1), 2:00.92<br>3. Ekaterina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:00.85 (3), 1:00.24 (2), 2:01.09<br>4. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:00.77 (2), 1:00.83 (9), 2:01.60<br>5. Ljubov PANJUTINA (RUS), 1:01.50 (6), 1:00.27 (3), 2:01.77<br>6. Sandra SCHOPF (AUT), 1:01.64 (8), 1:00.29 (4), 2:01.93<br>14. Lorraine THIRSK (CAN), 1:04.65 (14), 1:04.27 (14), 2:08.92<br><br>World Cup Ranking after two races (of six):<br><br>1. Sandra MARINER (AUT) 185 points<br>2. Sonja STEINACHER (ITA) 170<br>3. Marlies WAGNER (AUT) 145<br>4. Ekaterina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 140<br><br>“It was one of the most difficult races we ever had”, tells Ferdinand Hirzegger, last year´s World Cup winner about the changing conditions in Unterammergau, Germany. During the night it had started to snow, so the athletes found the track in quite demanding conditions. “However, I am satisfied with my third place. The Italians would not have been to beat here anyway.”<br>The Italians, Anton Blasbichler ahead of the brothers Martin and Reinhard Gruber, had already been leading after the first run and no-one else could take part in the fight for the victory. The brothers from South Tyrol gave an impressive comeback after last year there had been rumours already about them quitting their carreers. “We are very happy to be on top again, nevertheless I will also in future concentrate on my studies,” explains Reinhard, the younger one of them (23). His brother Martin (25) already graduated and has a degree in architecture.<br>The “local hero” was Markus Grausam from Germany, who achieved the sixth rank. “I already benefit from my training with the Austrians. We never had that many training runs before the season, even though there was hardly any snow. I am sure I will improve even more in future.”<br><br><b>Final Results Men´s singleseater (28):</b><br><br>1. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 0:58.88 (1), 0:59.01 (1), 1:57.89<br>2. Martin GRUBER (ITA), 0:58.92 (2), 0:59.05 (2), 1:57.97<br>3. Reinhard GRUBER (ITA), 0:59.16 (3), 0:59.48 (4), 1:58.64<br>Ferdinand HIRZEGGER (AUT), 0:59.18 (4), 0:59.46 (3)<br>5. Gerhard PILZ (AUT), 0:59.77 (9), 0:59.53 (6), 1:59.30<br>6. Markus GRAUSAM (GER), 0:59.67 (7), 0:59.79 (7), 1:59.46<br>7. Gerald KALLAN (AUT), 0:59.25 (5), 1:00.22 (11), 1:59.47<br>8. Roland KALLAN (AUT), 0:59.52 (6), 1:00.00 (8), 1:59.52<br>17.Wolfgang BRETTNER (CAN), 1:01.18 (17), 1:00.67 (15), 2:01.85<br>23.John GIBSON (CAN), 1:03.10 (22), 1:03.93 (24), 2:07.03<br>27.Andrew KOLODY (CAN), 1:04.73 (26), 1:05.22 (27), 2:09.95<br><br>World Cup Ranking after 2 races:<br><br>1. Gerhard Pilz (AUT) 155 points<br>2. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA) 150<br>3. Ferdinand HIRZEGGER (AUT) 140<br>4. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT) 115<br>5. Roland KALLAN (AUT) 102<br>6. Gerald KALLAN (AUT) 101<br><br><br>Chris Karl/Michael Unverdorben<br>FIL Media Service
