Zelezniki (ck) - A breathtaking second run put the luge world back in order. After the first run Poland’s Andrzej Laszczak/Damian Waniczek had been in the leading position, Germany’s Björn Kierspel/Christian Wichan at an excellent fourth rank and the top contenders Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev (RUS) and Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara (ITA) at the third and fifth spot respectively. However, the final podium was exactly the same as last weekend. Porshnev/Lazarev, still a bit handicapped from their training crash in Olang, won the race and took the lead in the overall WUERZ Energy World Cup: „We are doing much better, but are still a bit sore”, said Ivan Lazarev and analyzed their run: “In the first run we had problems in the first curve, but we could improve this for the second run. In fact, we had a great second run without any mistakes.” For Pigneter/Clara the race could easily have been over in the first run: “We used up all our luck in the first run”, said Florian Clara: “We came out of balance and ended up in the snow and could just avoid a crash. For the second run we knew that if all goes well and we don’t make mistakes we will finish with a good time. Too bad it was not good enough for the first place, but we are satisfied with the result given the circumstances.” Satisfied were also Christian Schatz/Gerhard Mühlbacher (AUT) with their third consecutive third place: “Only now when we hold the flowers in our hands, we truly believe that we are on the podium. It was really tight today”, said Mühlbacher. Ranked second after the first run, the Austrians first lost one place and ended up behind Porshnev/Lazarev as well as Pigneter/Clara. But then they benefited because the leaders after the first run, Laszczak/Waniczek, thoroughly messed up their second run and finished only fifth. In the women’s event the first run was held today, Saturday. Melanie Batkowski (AUT) who has missed the first two world cups due to an illness, gave an impressive comeback and is currently ranked third. The first two positions hold the eternal rivals Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) and Renate Gietl (ITA). Final Results World Cup Doubles (12): 1. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS), 1:02,01(3), 1:01,39(1), 2:03,40 2. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA), 1:02,20(5), 1:01,45(2), 2:03,65 3. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT), 1:02,00(2), 1:01,98(4), 2:03,98 4. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT), 1:02,25(6), 1:01,87(3), 2:04,12 5. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL), 1:01,93(1), 1:02,30(5), 2:04,23 6. Thomas SCHOPF/Andreas SCHÖPF (AUT), 1:02,43(7), 1:02,33(6), 2:04,76 7. Stanislav KOVSHIK/Ivan RODIN (RUS), 2:04,85 8. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER), 2:04,94 Intermediate Results after one Run World Cup Women (13) 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 0:58,56(1), 2. Renate GIETL (ITA), 0:59,34(2), 3. Melanie BATKOWSKI (AUT), 0:59,41(3), 4. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 0:59,45(4), 5. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 0:59,73(5), 6. Tamara SCHWARZ (ITA), 1:00,33(6), 7. Marlies WAGNER (AUT), 1:00,90(7), 8. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 1:01,41(8), World Cup Ranking Doubles (3/6): 1. Pavel PORSHNEV/Ivan LAZAREV (RUS) 285 points 2. Patrick PIGNETER/Florian CLARA (ITA) 270 3. Christian SCHATZ/Gerhard MÜHLBACHER (AUT) 210 4. Andrzej LASZCZAK/Damian WANICZEK (POL) 170 5. Christian SCHOPF/Andreas SCHOPF (AUT) 162 6. Thomas SCHOPF/Andreas SCHÖPF (AUT) 146 7. Björn KIERSPEL/Christian WICHAN (GER) 143 8. Hannes CLARA/Stefan GRUBER (ITA) 128 9. Stanislav KOVSHIK/Ivan RODIN (RUS) 119 10. Aleksandr EGOROV/Petr POPOV (RUS) 111