Olang (ck) - Russia wrote luge history in this Sunday’s world cup race in Olang/Valdaora (ITA): for the first time ever in the 20-year-old existence of the FIL World Cup Russia claimed a podium finish in the men’s event. While Russia’s women and doubles have been medal contenders for many years, Stanislav Kovshik was the first man to reach a top-three result. The 20-year-old IT student from Kandalaksha was ranked fifth after the first run. “The track was faster in the second run”, he said, “I had an excellent run, especially in the upper part. I was very focused and not too nervous, I did have some minor mistakes in the bottom part, though.” The winner was once more Patrick Pigneter (ITA), who was not fully satisfied: “Especially in the training runs I would have expected to do better. Last week I won with a huge margin, but I said right away that this can change quickly and indeed, today, it was very tight.” The reason for the close finish was runner up Hannes Clara (ITA), who gave an impressive comeback in the world cup after he had missed the qualification last week: “I am very, very satisfied, most of all because I saw that I am not too far away from Patrick. In the women’s event the actual race started with the second place. The first spot had been pre-booked for Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS). With a more than one second margin she upset the rest of the field: “Olang is my favourite track. I love each single turn here. This is my home. I have been coming here for so many years and the people here have helped me so much. My first win here was in 1999 at the test event for the 2000 World Championships and since then I was always happy to return to Olang”, said the sports teacher from Kandalaksha. Also Renate Gietl (ITA), the leader of the field behind Lavrentjeva, gave her credit: “Kathi is not to beat here. But I am satisfied because I finished second with all the mistakes I have made. This is a sign of being in good shape: when you can afford mistakes and yet achieve fast run times. So I am positive even though the track next week in Zelezniki does not favour me. I like it fast and steep, the track in Slovenia is not steep at all.” In the fight for the third spot on the podium, Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) came out as the winner. “I am glad that I could demonstrate that I can finish in the top field. I made some mistakes in the first run, but in the second run I saw that I am not that far away from Kathi at all”, said Lanthaler, who had missed the world cup qualification one week ago. With her second fastest run time in the second run she pushed Melanie Schwarz (ITA) off the podium. An excellent 5th place claimed Michaela Maurer (GER) who almost imperceptibly has closed the gap between her and the top field. The win in the first team event in the world cup went to Russia’s team in a clear demonstration of their current strength. In the team events held at European and World Championships Austria or Italy alternatively were the winning teams. But the Russian’s first place did not come as a surprise. “We knew that they are strong”, said Patrick Pigneter. “Hannes Clara had a great run and put us in a good position, but it was not good enough.” Hannes Clara (ITA) had finished his run with the fastest time of all men, but Russia’s team responded with fastest times in the women’s and doubles’ run with Ekatharina Lavrentjeva and Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev. Austria finished third. Final Results World Cup Women (18): 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 1:08,40(1), 1:08,65(1), 2:17,05 2. Renate GIETL (ITA), 1:09,24(2), 1:09,00(3), 2:18,24 3. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 1:09,80(4), 1:08,82(2), 2:18,62 4. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:09,65(3), 1:09,20(4), 2:18,85 5. Michaela MAURER (GER), 1: 10,29(5), 1:10,15(6), 2:20,44 6. Tamara SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:10,39(6), 1:10,60(8), 2:20,99 7. Ludmila AKSENENKO (RUS), 1:10,53(7), 1:10,57(7), 2:21,10 8. Carmen PLANÖTSCHER (ITA), 1:11,61(10), 1:09,96(5), 2:21,57 9. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 2:22,00 10. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 2:22,81 11. Veronika NACHMANN (GER), 2:23,04 12. Daria MALEEVA (RUS), 2:24,53 Final Results World Cup Men (34): 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 1:08,06(1), 1:07,22(1), 2:15,28 2. Hannes CLARA (ITA), 1:08,13(2), 1:07,43(2), 2:15,56 3. Stanislav KOVSHIK (RUS), 1:08,52(5), 1:07,87(5), 2:16,39 4. Alex GRUBER (ITA), 1:08,41(3), 1:08,02(7), 2:16,43 5. Florian CLARA (ITA), 1:08,46(4), 1:08,01(6), 2:16,47 6. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA), 1:08,75(6), 1:07,82(3), 2:16,57 7. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 1:08,76(7), 1:07,86(4), 2:16,62 8. Juri TALIKH (RUS), 1:09,31(11), 1:08,05(8), 2:17,36 9. Patrick SALCHER (AUT), 2:17,48 10. Rudi RESCH (ITA), 2:17,62 11. Adam JEDRZEJKO (POL), 2:17,83 12. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 2:18,15 13. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT), 2:18,21 14. Kaj JOHNSON (CAN), 2:18,25 Final Results Team Event (5): 1. RUSSIA (Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA, Stanislav KOVSHIK, Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV) 3:28,78 2. ITALY (Renate GIETL, Hannes CLARA, Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA) 3:29,06 3. AUSTRIA (Tina UNTERBERGER, Michael SCHEIKL, Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER) 3:31,87 4. GERMANY 5. BULGARIA World Cup Rankings (2/6): Women: 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 200 points 2. Renate GIETL (ITA) 170 3. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA) 130 4. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT) 94 4. Michaela MAURER (GER) 94 6. Ludmila AKSENENKO (RUS) 88 7. Marlies WAGNER (AUT) 82 8. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA) 70 9. Veronika NACHMANN (GER) 66 10. Maria KOMAREVZEVA 64 Men: 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 200 points 2. Alex GRUBER (ITA) 145 3. Florian CLARA (ITA) 110 4. Stanislav KOVSHIK (RUS) 109 5. Rudi RESCH (ITA) 106 5. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT) 106 7. Hannes CLARA (ITA) 85 8. Robert BATKOWSKI (AUT) 80 9. Juri TALIKH (RUS) 76 9. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA) 76