Umhausen - With new equipment and a very ambitious preparation for the season the Russian rookies Aleksandr Egerov and Petr Popov upset their experienced team-mates Porschnev/Lazarev and raced to their first World Cup win in the doubleseater´s event. But Porschnev/Lazarev were not too upset as their second place was good enough to put them in the lead in the overall World Cup ranking. Trainer of both doubles, Andre Knir, was very satisfied with a perfect result for Russia: “It is good to have some competition within the team. But they get along very well, train together and also prepare their sleds together.”
Third became Austria´s Christian Schatz/Gerhard Mühlbacher with “a few small flaws in the run”. The race had to be held in only one run because due to the warm weather the organizers did not want to take any chances and have the track ruined at an early stage of the race. “A second run would have been nice”, said Mühlbacher, “as it is possible to make up three tenths in a second run.” The big surprise came from the new Italian double Martin Psenner/Johannes Hofer. In their very first start together they missed the podium closely and finished fourth. “I used to do double years ago”, said Martin Psenner, “then I quit and concentrated on single for six years and now I have found a great partner in Johannes Hofer and I will try again. I think we have good perspectives for the future.”
Ten consecutive wins and a total of 18 World Cup wins already makes her the most successful female luge athlete ever. Today in Umhausen the 17-year-old Melanie Batkowski (AUT) could have broken Ekatherina Lavrentjeva´s winning streak as Batkowski was in the lead after the first run. But in the end the Russian Lavrentjeva won again and her streak is still running. Batkowski took it easy: “I am so young compared to all the others, I am sure my time is still to come. Today I had two small flaws in my second run, enough to lose 0,11 seconds.” The third spot on the podium took Renate Gietl (ITA) who had been the last athlete to win a race before Lavrentja took over the top spot on the podium.
In the men´s event Patrick Pigneter seem to follow Lavrentjeva´s footsteps. In eight races he has never been ranked worse than second with two consecutive wins at the beginning of the current season. His secret of success: “A lot of training and with the success comes along the necessary easiness. Even though I have to admit that today I thought the Austrians would win as traditionally in Umhausen Austrians do very well. But at some point during my second run I had all the faith and knew I could win.”
“Just like winning” felt Gernot Schwab´s second place. “Last year´s European Champion title and today´s second places are probably the most important days in my career”, said Schwab. In Latsch he hardly escaped a bad fall after a technical mistake and from then on lost a lot of his self-confidence. “I was running on 60% and today was the first time I felt like my usual self. A huge burden was taken off me with this second place. I do not care about being second to Patrick. He is in an incredible form when everything comes so easy. I had this feeling last year, I know that right now no-one can beat him.” Martin Psenner who only missed the podium closely in the doubleseater´s race, finished third in the single´s race. “I feel very good now, I am training a lot and with some special exercises and the help of my chiropractor I managed to get my backpain under control.”
The World Cup will be continued in Lungiarue (ITA) next weekend.
Results in Umhausen:
Doubleseaters (13):
1. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS), 1:23,47 2. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:23,63 3. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 1:23,84 4. Martin PSENNER/Johannes HOFER (ITA), 1:24,17 5. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT), 1:24,25 6. Denis ALIMOV/Roman MOLVISTOV (RUS), 1:24,76 7. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:24,79 8. Martin MAYERHOFER/Siegfried TRUPPE (AUT), 1:24,95 9. Thomas WEISS/Andreas LEITER (ITA), 1:25,84 10. Björn KIRSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER), 1:26,54
Women (19):
1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:19,77(2), 1:19,47(1), 2:39,24 2. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:19,66(1), 1:19,92(3), 2:39,58 3. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:20,51(4), 1:19,68(2), 2:40,19 4. Barbara ABART (ITA), 1:20,34(3), 1:20,21(4), 2:40,55 5. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:21,18(6), 1:20,50(5), 2:41,68 6. Julia VETLOVA (RUS), 1:21,33(8), 1:20,85(7), 2:42,18 7. Michaela MAURER (GER), 1:21,01(5), 1:21,24(8), 2:42,25 8. Renate KASSLATTER (ITA), 1:21,89(11), 1:20,55(6), 2:42,44 9. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 2:42,89 10. Kinga GAWLAS (POL), 2:43,88 11. Katrin MLADEK (AUT), 2:44,11 12. Nina BUCINEL (SLO), 2:44,16
Men (39):
1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:17,94(1), 1:17,75(1), 2:35,69 2. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 1:18,12(2), 1:1:18,48(4), 2:36,60 3. Martin PSENNER (ITA), 1:18,45(5), 1:18,19(3), 2:36,64 4. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1:18,56(7), 1:18,12(2), 2:36,68 5. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:18,37(4), 1:18,65(6), 2:37,02 6. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA), 1:16,58(8), 1:18,48(4), 2:37,06 7. Gerhard PILZ (AUT), 1:18,15(3), 1:18,93(10), 2:37,08 8. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 1.19,02(10), 1:18,69(8), 2:37,71 9. Florian CLARA (ITA), 1.19,37(11), 1:18,65(6), 2:38,02 10. Mathias RAINER (ITA), 1:80,80(9), 1:19,24(12), 2:38,04 11. Florian BATKOWSKI (AUT), 2:38,05 12. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 2:38,35 13. Marcus GRAUSAM (GER), 2:38,70 14. Georg MAURER (GER), 2:39,02 24. Julian SCHULTZ (USA), 2:42,97
World Cup rankings (2/6):
Doubleseaters:
1. Pawel PORSCHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 170 points 2. Reinhard BEER/Herbert KÖGL (AUT) 155 3. Aleksandr EGEROV/Petr POPOV (RUS) 146 4. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT) 140 5. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 101 6. Denis ALIMOV/Roman MOLVISTOV (RUS) 100 7. Thomas WEISS/Andreas LEITER (ITA) 99 8. Martin MAYERHOFER/Siegfried TRUPPE (AUT) 84 9. Borut KRALJ/Ziga PAGON (SLO) 73 10. Martin PSENNER/Johannes HOFER (ITA) 60 11. Björn KIRSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER) 36
Women:
1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 200 2. Renate GIETL (ITA) 155 2. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT) 155 4. Barbara ABART (ITA) 115 5. Renate KASSLATTER (ITA) 102 6. Marlies WAGNER (AUT) 97 7. Julia VETLOVA (RUS) 96 8. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA) 89 9. Michaela MAURER (GER) 80 10. Kinga GAWLAS (POL) 75
Men
1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 200 2. Martin PSENNER (ITA) 155 3. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT) 140 4. Gerhard PILZ (AUT) 116 5. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 106 6. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA) 100 7. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 90 8. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT) 87 9. Mathias RAINER (ITA) 82 10. Florian BATKOWSKI (AUT) 68 11. Georg MAURER (GER) 64 12. Christian SCHWARZ (ITA) 60 23. Julian SCHWARTZ (USA) 32
ck FIL Media Service