Deutschnofen is ready for the world championship of natural track luge

Now all that remains is to crown the world champions. Patrick Pigneter, Ekatharina Lavrentjeva and the doubles Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara are still unbeaten in Deutschnofen. Will they stay that way?

The World Cup favorites

According to statistics, the favorite roles are clearly assigned: the two reigning overall World Cup winners Patrick Pigneter and Ekatharina Lavrentjeva won in both the 2009 and 2012 World Cups in Deutschnofen. They are undefeated in Deutschnofen, just like the Pigneter/Clara doubles, who also won both previous Deutschnofen World Cups.

So everything has already been decided? Not at all. In the men's race, for example, Patrick Pigneter suffered his first defeat in two years (February 2011!) in the single-seater World Cup on Sunday in Moos in Passeier, if second place can be described as a defeat. He had to admit defeat to Thomas Kammerlander, the brother of the reigning world champion Gerald Kammerlander. Incidentally, Thomas Kammerlander has good memories of the Deutschnofner Bahn: He won bronze there at the Junior World Championships in 2010. At the Deutschnofen World Cup a year ago he came sixth.

At the first World Cup race of the season in Laas, Patrick Pigneter only beat another Austrian, Thomas Schopf, by a measly eight hundredths of a second, who is therefore also one of the favorites. And then there is Hannes Clara from Val Badia, third twice this year in the two World Cup races held so far this season, who stayed only 36 hundredths of a second behind Pigneter at the World Cup dress rehearsal a year ago in Deutschnofen - and that despite a horror fall in training. Like Pigneter, Clara feels right at home on the Deutschnofner track, where he became junior world champion in 2010. And finally, a World Cup has its own rules, as the most recent World Cup in Umhausen in 2011 showed: Back then, the Austrian Gerald Kammerlander won, Pigneter “only” came third. Nevertheless, Patrick Pigneter remains the hunted.

Among the women, the Russian Ekatharina Lavrentjeva is the mega favorite: Reigning World Cup winner, never worse than second at the World Championships since 2003, and undefeated in Nova Ponente, just like this season in the World Cup. Who can hold a candle to her? This question arises all the more after her long-term rival Renate Gietl from Feldthurn, who snatched World Cup gold from Lavrentjeva in both 2009 and 2011, completely unexpectedly announced her retirement from active tobogganing at the end of December and will no longer be at the start in Deutschnofen. But as mentioned, a World Cup sometimes has its own rules. The South Tyrolean hopes now rest not least on Evelin Lanthaler, who came third behind Lavrentjeva and Gietl in Nova Ponente a year ago and was crowned junior world champion on this track in 2010. Just on Sunday, Lanthaler lost only 14 hundredths of a second to Lavrentjeva on her home track in Moos in Passeier and achieved the best time in the second run.

Also worth noting is the 17-year-old Greta Pinggera from Val Venosta, reigning vice world champion among juniors, who came second and fourth in the two World Cup races of the season so far.

According to the World Cup results of the season so far, the South Tyrolean top favorites Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara face particular danger in the doubles from the Austrians Christian and Andreas Schopf, cousins of Thomas Schopf, who each came second behind Pigneter/Clara. But the Russian doubles Pavel Porzhnev/Iwan Lazarev should not be forgotten either. It may be that Pigneter/Clara are still undefeated in Deutschnofen, just like in this World Cup season, it may be that Porschnew/Lazarev have “only” come third twice this year, but they are none other than the reigning world champions and reigning overall World Cup winners.

The World Cup program When creating the World Cup program, the organizing ASV Deutschnofen attached great importance to ensuring that entertainment was not neglected during this major sporting event. The groups “Volx Rock” and “Pamstiddn Kings” will play in the festival tent directly at the Pföslriep toboggan run on Friday and Saturday evenings. During the weekend there will also be an air show by the Bozen model aircraft group, an “International Prize Watten”, a morning pint with live music and – for the little ones – a face painting corner and a bouncy castle. “We are trying to turn the sporting event into a celebration. Not only the athletes deserve perfect conditions, but also the audience,” explain the two OK heads Christian Gallmetzer and Martin Mittermair. About the sporting program: The teams are scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, January 23rd, and the starting numbers will be raffled off at the Hotel Pfösl in the evening. Training follows on Thursday and – in the evening at 19 p.m. – the official opening in the marquee. The first World Cup medals will be awarded in the team competition on Friday, starting at 10 a.m. On Saturday it's all about gold, silver and bronze in the doubles, and the first races will also be held in the women's and men's singles. Finally, on Sunday morning, the medals in the women's and men's single-seaters will be awarded.

The World Cup school competition At the Deutschnofen middle school, the students dealt with the Toboggan World Championships as part of a painting competition. On Saturday at 13.45:XNUMX p.m. the best images from the poster competition will be awarded in the finish area. The winning photo – that of Gabriel Köhl – adorns the World Cup brochure.

Experienced World Cup organizers Two penguins – they are the mascots of the World Cup – have been announcing the Toboggan World Championships for months at the entrance to the village of Nova Ponente. Just in time for the 50th anniversary that the ASV Deutschnofen is celebrating in 2013, Deutschnofen is crowning its development into an internationally recognized tobogganing stronghold. Deutschnofen has organized practically everything there is in the way of national and international races since the demanding Pföslriep toboggan run was built and homologated at the end of the 1990s: for example the Italian championship in 1999, for example the Intercontinental Cup races in 2001 and 2008, plus the World Cup races in 2009 and 2012 as well as two junior world championships (the FIL Youth Games in 2003 and the Junior World Championships in 2010), the European Grand Prix for sport luge in 2007 and the horn sled European Cup final in 2004.

World Cup-tested track The Pföslriep toboggan run was completed in 1998 and is considered challenging in athlete circles. It is 871 meters long and has an average gradient of 13 percent (maximum gradient 16 percent). The athletes overcome a height difference of 121 meters and the start is at 1.505 meters above sea level.

The history of the Natural Track Luge World Championships World champion precious metal is only awarded every two years. The Austrian Werner Prantl, the Italian Delia Vaudan and the Italian double Damiano Lugon/Andrea Millet were crowned the first world champions in natural track luge history in 1979 in Inzing in Tyrol. Nova Ponente is now hosting the 18th World Cup.

The most successful athlete in World Cup history is the Austrian Gerhard Pilz, who won nine World Cup medals from 1986 to 2007, including five gold ones. His female counterpart is the still active Ekatharina Lavrentjeva, who has so far won a total of six medals (three gold, three silver). Italy is the undisputed leader in the national rankings with 83 medals, with South Tyrol taking up a large share of this top position.

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Deutschnofen is ready for the world championship of natural track luge

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