Novouralsk (ck) - With one world cup race left on the schedule, the focus currently shifted from world cup to the European Championships which will be hosted by Novouralsk from tomorrow, Friday. Happy about their success in today’s world cup race, even the top athletes talk more about the championships than about the world cup. Serial winner Ekatherina Lavrentjeva (RUS) claimed her 39th world cup win, which meant a little bit more for her than her usual wins. “I am from Kandalaksha which is 3000 kilometers away, but it is still Russia and it is my home country. To win the European Championships here is my big goal.” Melanie Batkowski (AUT) always presents herself in top shape in Novouralsk and once again she finished second. Her focus is on the European Championships, too: “I missed the two first races because I was sick, so I have no chance in the overall world cup anyway, I put all my efforts into the Championships.” Batkowski was ranked third after the first run, but with an excellent second run she left Renate Gietl (ITA) behind her. “I knew that I had to attack as Melanie Schwarz was only one hundredth behind me. I like the track, but you have to be very precise. I wanted to push my limits a bit, because only then you see where you are standing.” Renate Gietl, eventually ranked third, took it easy: “Of course I would have loved to keep my second place, but I am happy about my performance in the first run. I don’t like the track, I have to change my technique here, but I am working at it. Who knows, maybe one day the track and I become friends”, she says. In the men’s event Patrick Pigneter (ITA) once more upset the rest of the field. Only the best of the best managed the track in less than a minute. in the second run Pigneter topped himself and remained as the only athlete under 59 seconds. “In the singles event everything goes really well right now. I was actually surprised about my time in the second run”, said Pigneter who with his fifth season win has already secured the overall world cup for the seventh consecutive time and thinks of the days ahead: “I hope I can continue this flow in the European Championships. A mistake is easily made and on this flat track with so many curves you pay for each mistake.” The only athlete who can currently challenge Pigneter is his team mate Hannes Clara, runner up after Pigneter four times in a row. “I did not have any training in the past two weeks because of job duties, but I feel good and my results are good. I tried a few things in the training runs and then had two stable competition runs. But I have my doubts that I will reach my goal to beat Patrick here. Then again, there are three runs and you never know.” Another serious medal contender could be Michael Scheikl (AUT) who has established his role as the strongest Austrian throughout the season. Once again he finished third: “I still make small mistakes, but obviously they don’t show in the run times. I was a little bit nervous before the first run. Today’s result is really important for me because I want to defend my third place in the overall world cup.” The world cup will be continued and wrapped up in early March in Umhausen (AUT). In Novouralsk a new set of cards will be dealt tomorrow with the European Championships kicking off. Novouralsk itself it located in Asia, but in a sport political sense all of Russia counts as Europe. Final Results World Cup (16): 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:00,35(1), 1:00,07(1), 2:00,42 2. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 1:01,42(3), 1:00,88(2), 2:02,30 3. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:01,24(2), 1:01,43(3), 2:02,67 4. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:01,43(4), 1:01,73(4), 2:03,16 5. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 1:02,15(5), 1:02,08(5), 2.04,23 6. Ludmila AKSENENKO (RUS), 1:02,57(6), 1:02,57(7), 2:05,14 7. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:02,75(7), 1:02,48(6), 2:05,23 8. Katrin MLADEK (AUT), 1:03,06(9), 1:02,75(8), 2:05,81 9. Veronika NACHMANN (GER), 1:03,09(10), 1:02,95(9), 2:06,04 10. Svetlana ZHARAVINA (RUS), 1:03,00(8), 1:03,27(10), 2:06,27 Final Results World Cup Men (30): 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 0:59,08(1), 0:58,83(1), 1:57,91 2. Hannes CLARA (ITA), 0:59,46(2), 0:59,50(3), 1:58,96 3. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 1:00,15(4), 0:59,49(2), 1:59,64 4. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 0:59,85(3), 1:00,17(6), 2:00,02 5. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:00,36(8), 0:59,89(4), 2:00,25 6. Juri TALIKH (RUS), 1:00,29(7), 1:00,07(5), 2:00,36 7. Alex GRUBER (ITA), 1:00,17(5), 1:00,29(7), 2:00,46 8. Rudi RESCH (ITA), 1:00,19(6), 1:00,30(8), 2:00,49 9. Stanislav KOVSHIK (RUS), 1:00,47(9), 1:00,48(10), 2:00,95 10. Adam JEDRZEJKO (POL), 1:00,55(10), 1.00,57(11), 2:01,12 11. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 2:01,43 12. Aleksandr EGOROV (RUS), 2:01,78 13. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 2:01,94 14. Gregori BUKIN (RUS), 2:02,04 World Cup Rankings (5/6): Women: 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 500 2. Renate GIETL (ITA) 410 3. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA) 310 4. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA) 245 5. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT) 232 6. Ludmila AKSENENKO (RUS) 211 7. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT) 210 8. Marlies WAGNER (AUT) 194 9. Veronika NACHMANN (GER) 178 10. Tamara SCHWARZ (ITA) 155 11. Petra DRAGICEVIC (SLO) 148 12. Michaela MAURER (GER) 136 Men: 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 500 2. Hannes CLARA (ITA) 340 3. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT) 306 4. Alex GRUBER (ITA) 293 5. Rudi RESCH (ITA) 218 6. Stanislav KOVSHIK (RUS) 196 7. Juri TALIKH (RUS) 190 8. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT) 185 9. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 180 10. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT) 176 11. Adam JEDRZEJKO (POL) 173 12. Florian CLARA (ITA) 164