Lillehammer (pps) The Nation’s Cup at the season’s opener in Luge started with three victories for Russia. The qualification races for the Viessmann World Cup this weekend in Lillehammer, Norway, were won by Ekatarina Baturina, Alexandr Peretjagin and Vladislav Yuzhakov/Vladimir Makhnutin.

Ekatarina Baturina was followed by Ulla Zirne from Latvia and her team-mate Natalia Khoreva. In men’s race places two and three went to Semen Pavlichenko from Russia and Austria’s Manuel Pfister. In doubles race all three spots on the podium went to Russia with Vladislav Yuzhakov/Vladimir Makhnutin on top followed by Andrey Bogdanov/Andrey Medvedev and Alexandr Denisyev/Vladislav Antonov