Umhausen (ck/es) - They won the race and the Overall World Cup: Pavel Porshnev and Ivan Lazarev from Russia. Being 30 points ahead of Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) they were the light favorites in the last race of the season but the final result wasn’t to be foreseen until the last double had crossed the finish line. The Germans Björn Kierspel/Christian Wichan had an excellent run and were the leaders before the two contenders for the Overall World Cup started into the race. Pigneter/Clara who could solve their problems with their equipment from Russia took the lead and still had a theoretical chance to win. Porshnev/Lazarev answered quickly with the fastest run time and won today’s race and the Overall World Cup. “It was incredibly difficult to win this race. We didn’t train too much on this track and yesterday there was – due to the weather – only one run for training which was a complete fail on our side. However, we could correct that today and could cope with the difficult conditions”, Lazarev analyzed happily that after eight years they could finally win the Overall World Cup again. Pigneter/Clara (ITA) acknowledged the Russians’ achievement: “They were stronger. We tried everything and didn’t manage to beat them”, Florian Clara said and already promised a challenge for next year: “It will be for sure very interesting again when we are going to compete with each other next winter. We will hopefully be able to continue where we stop today because our equipment is really competitive again.” A conciliatory finish had the winter for Björn Kierspel/Christian Wichan (GER), who often had one excellent and one bad run: “We often beat ourselves this season. We could have already finished on the podium two or three times and we never stopped believing in ourselves.” Their coach Gerhard Pilz was also relieved: “We nearly succeeded so many times – it had to work out in the end. This result rewards our hard work since summertime.” Evelin Lanthaler wins Nation’s Cup in Umhausen The first women’s competition at the World Cup finals in Umhausen is also already over: Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) is the winner of the Nation’s Cup – ahead of her two Italian team colleagues Melanie Schwarz and Tamara Schwarz. Lanthaler and Melanie Schwarz – ranked fourth and third in Overall World Cup before the last women’s single race – couldn’t qualify for the World Cup competition and therefore had to start in the Nation’s Cup. Lanthaler was certainly disappointed, that she wasn’t allowed to race for World Cup points. She and Melanie Schwarz can only watch tomorrow’s second run of the World Cup competition. Melanie Schwarz added: “Of course it’s a pity that we were not qualified for the World Cup even though we are among the top 5 in the overall World Cup. But the Nation’s Cup is a good idea and especially the younger athletes get a chance to adapt to the World Cup.” Lanthaler and Schwarz agreed with each other, “It would be great, if the new mode tworked well and if there were more and more nations getting a chance to compete on top level.” Final Results Doubles (only one run): 1. Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev (RUS), 1:21,86 2. Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA), 1:22,01 3. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER), 1:23,03 4. Rupert BRÜGGLER/Tobias ANGERER (AUT), 1:23,29 5. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:23,50 6. Hannes CLARA/Stefan GRUBER (ITA), 1:23,51 WÜRZ Energy Overall World Cup Final Ranking (6/6): 1. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 570 points 2. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA) 525 3. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT) 386 4. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 348 5. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 310 6. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER) 305 7. Hannes CLARA/Stefan GRUBER (ITA) 259 8. Stanislav KOVSHIK/Ivan RODIN (RUS) 233 9. Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV (RUS) 216 10. Thomas SCHOPF/Andreas SCHÖPF (AUT) 206