At the finals of the FIL Luge World Cup on Natural Track the first scoring runs were on the program on Friday evening in Umhausen (AUT). Nobody expected, but the halftime leaders are not the favorites.

The seventh and last stop on the World Cup calendar started with three surprises. At the 955m long Grantau-Track, the first competition run under the floodlight was fort he singles women. Greta Pinggera (ITA) showed a brisk performance, knocking out series winner Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) by just 0.03 seconds behind in second place, followed by Ekaterina Lavrenteva (RUS), 0.46 seconds back.

Greta Pinggera: "A lot has happened in my career on this track, I have celebrated my greatest success here, the track is easy for me. I had a small mistake in the finish line, but I am satisfied. That will be exciting tomorrow ".

World Champion Evelin Lanthaler has won all six World Cup races so far this season and wants to win in the last race as well. "There were a few small mistakes, but more or less I'm happy with my run. Nice that it is so exciting at the end ".

A true thriller is the race for the daily and overall victory in men’s single. Patrick Pigneter (ITA) in the first run set a new track record in 1: 11.48 minutes and will go into the final run with a solid lead of 0.45 seconds on local hero Thomas Kammerlander (AUT). Third place for Alex Gruber (ITA), 0.60 seconds back, who is 10 points behind the leader Kammerlander in the overall World Cup. Who of the two will finish in fron conquers the big crystal globe.

Thomas Kammerlander: „I am not really satisfied with the first run. I know I can go faster".
Alex Gruber: "That's a great position for the final run. I like to be the hunter. Tomorrow's going to be awesome ".

The Russians Pavel Porshnev / Ivan Lazarev surprisingly lead in the doubles, the World Champions 2005/2007/2011 could not win a race this season. Only 0.33 seconds behind are the overall winners Patrick Pigneter / Florian Clara (ITA) on 2nd place. The local heroes Rupert Brüggler / Tobias Angerer (AUT) hold intermediate rank 4 before their very last race in the World Cup.

The final on Saturday starts at 3 pm with the doubles, at 4 pm the ladies start and from 4.45 pm the overall World Cup men will be decided. The team competition is scheduled for 6.15 pm. A total of 19 nations are represented at the World Cup Final in Umhausen.