Latzfons (ck) - A margin of nearly one second in the first run was enough for Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) to secure her 35th career world cup win. “I have been lucky that I have had that margin from the first run, because I made a few mistakes in the second run. I was braking to early in too curves”, explains the Russian with self criticism. In fact, Renate Gietl (ITA) challenged the Russian in the second run: “I don’t give up a race easily, I wanted to give all I had and I really had a fantastic second run. But I was nine tenths behind, this was too much, so I am very satisfied with my second place.” More than happy with her third place and first podium finish in the world cup was Melanie Schwarz: “I was a little bit nervous at the start, but now I am only happy. My medal in the World Championships was an incredible motivation for me and I have practised a lot in summer and prepared myself really well. Then at the beginning of the season I had some troubles with my equipment and I want to thank all coaches who helped me that today everything went so perfectly well.” With two fastest run times serial winner Patrick Pigneter (ITA) upset the field once again. He finished 1.42 seconds ahead of Alex Gruber (ITA) and claimed his 23rd world cup win in the single’s event. “It looks easy when you win with such a margin and I knew that I am in good shape, but this requires a lot of hard work and training. There is no room for mistakes. On a different track the result can look different again, but I am highly motivated”, commented Pigneter on his win. Almost surprised about his second place, Alex Gruber (ITA), who has won a race last year already, said. “I didn’t think that it would go that well. I hope that I can deliver my good form as well in the next races.” The Italian clean sweep was completed by Rudi Resch, the man of little words: “I came better and better in shape during the past days”. The WÜRZ Energy World Cup will be continued next weekend in Olang (ITA). There the traditional system will be used again, which allows all entered athletes to compete in the world cup as long as the numbers of 6 men, 4 women and 3 doubles per nation is not exceeded. Nation’s Cup: Today’s Nation’s Cup was a highly contested event. The current World Champion Gerald Kammerlander (AUT), Italy’s top athletes Hannes Clara and Florian Breitenberger, as well as Austria’s Florian Batkowsky were fighting for the first place in this test event. Eventually Hannes Clara could win ahead of Dominik Holzlknecht (AUT) and Florian Breitenberger. Kammerlander had to settle for the 4th place. Results World Cup Women (15): 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:03,16(1), 1:03,44(2), 2:06,60 2. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:04,06(2), 1:02,99(1), 2:07,05 3. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:04,29(3), 1:04,15(3), 2:08,44 4. Sarah GRUBER (ITA), 1:04,46(4), 1:05,04(6), 2:09,50 5. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:04,66(5), 1:04,95(4), 2:09,61 6. Alexandra OBRIST (ITA), 1:04,87(6), 1:05,13(7), 2:10,00 7. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 2:10,12 8. Ludmila AKSENENKO (RUS), 2:11,39 Results World Cup Men (25): 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:01,47(1), 1:1:01,96(1), 2:03,43 2. Alex GRUBER (ITA), 1:02,17(2), 1:02,68(3), 2:04,85 3. Rudi RESCH (ITA), 1:02,25(3), 1:02,65(2), 2:04,90 4. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 1:02,73(5), 1:03,01(4), 2:05,74 5. Florian CLARA (ITA), 1:02,66(4), 1:03,32(6), 2:05,98 6. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:02,90(6), 1:03,42(9), 2:06,32 7. Stefan GRUBER (ITA), 2:06,56 7. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 2:06,56 9. Stanislav KOVSHIK (RUS), 2:06,57 10. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 2:06,89 Results Nation’s Cup (14): Men: 1. Hannes CLARA (ITA) 2. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA) 3. Dominik HOLZKNECHT (AUT) World Cup Rankings (1/6): Women: 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 100 points 2. Renate GIETL (ITA) 85 3. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA) 70 4. Sarah GRUBER (ITA) 60 5. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT) 55 6. Alexandra OBRIST (ITA) 50 7. Marlies WAGNER (AUT) 46 8. Ludmila AKSENENKO (RUS) 42 Men: 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 100 2. Alex GRUBER (ITA) 85 3. Rudi RESCH (ITA) 70 4. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT) 60 5. Florian CLARA (ITA) 55 6. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT) 50 7. Stefan GRUBER (ITA) 46 7. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 46 9. Stanislav KOVSHIK (RUS) 39 10. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT) 36