Toboggan World Championships in Deutschnofen: South Tyroleans strong in training

But while Lavrentjeva is the heavy favorite for World Cup gold among the women, Pigneter will have to fight hard - today his teammate Alex Gruber and even more so the Austrian Thomas Schopf made a really strong impression. The South Tyroleans delivered excellent performances across the board, both for men and women. In the doubles competition, Thomas Schopf's cousins Christian and Andreas Schopf became favorites with two first places.

Over 80 athletes from 17 nations and 4 continents are taking part in the World Championships in natural track tobogganing, which runs until Sunday in Nova Ponente and is the only World Championships taking place on South Tyrolean soil this winter. 52 men, 27 women and 17 doubles started training today, including seven men, four women and two doubles from South Tyrol - the Italian national team is a purely South Tyrolean team. World Cup leader Patrick Pigneter, as well as Hannes Clara, Alex Gruber, Florian Clara, Anton Blasbichler, Florian Breitenberger and Stefan Gruber will be competing in the men's category, Evelin Lanthaler, Greta Pinggera, Melanie Schwarz and Sarah Gruber in the women's category and Patrick in the doubles category Pigneter/Florian Clara, and Hannes Clara/Stefan Gruber.

Pigneter still unbeaten in Deutschnofen

In the men's category, top favorite Patrick Pigneter underlined his role as favorite with the best time of the day of 55,12 seconds. The World Cup leader is still unbeaten in Nova Ponente. Before Pigneter achieved the best time in the second run, he “only” finished seventh in the first run. On the other hand, the Austrian Thomas Schopf (first and second in the two training runs) and Pigneter's teammate Alex Gruber (second and third) impressed with consistent performances. Gruber, who came third in the World Cup last year, seems to be in top form just in time for the World Cup, after not being able to really impress in the World Cup this year. The Austrian World Cup defending champion Gerald Kammerlander, however, does not seem to be able to intervene in the fight for the medals this year - he came 15th and eighth in training. His brother Thomas Kammerlander did a little better, coming eighth and sixth. As a reminder: Thomas Kammerlander was the first athlete in two years to defeat Patrick Pigneter in the World Cup in Moos in Passeier in mid-January.

Overall, it is clear that the South Tyroleans and the Austrians will battle it out for the medals in the single-seater competitions on Saturday and Sunday. The best from the “rest of the world” today were the Russian Gregorii Bukin in 14th place in the first run and the German Georg Maurer in eleventh place in the second run. Overall, the South Tyrolean men delivered top performances today. In the first training run, all seven South Tyroleans ended up in the top 12, and in the second run six of the seven South Tyroleans even ended up in the top 9 (only Florian Breitenberger dropped out).

Ekatharina Lavrentjeva is the favorite among women

In the women's race, Ekatharina Lavrentjeva is more than ever the favorite for World Cup gold after today's training. It was also confirmed in training that the competitors on Saturday and Sunday will probably only be fighting for silver and bronze. The World Cup series winner, who like Pigneter is still unbeaten in Deutschnofen, won the two training runs comfortably with a lead of 0,82 and 1,44 seconds. Behind high-flyer Lavrentjeva, the South Tyroleans performed even worse than their compatriots. All four South Tyroleans ended up in the top 6 (!) both times, with 23-year-old Melanie Schwarz from Latscher making a particularly strong impression: she came second twice and confirmed the performances she recently showed in the World Cup. Evelin Lanthaler, Junior World Champion in Deutschnofen 2010, came fifth and third, Greta Pinggera third and fifth, Sarah Gruber sixth and fourth. The chances of getting precious metal are obviously good.

In the doubles competition, World Cup leaders Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara held back today and came second and fifth respectively. But they shouldn't be written off because they are still undefeated in Deutschnofen. The Austrians Christian and Andreas Schopf became favorites with two first places. Hannes Clara/Stefan Gruber were not among the top 5 in both runs. The reigning world champions Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev from Russia came tenth and second.

Tomorrow team competition, today opening ceremony

In the team competition tomorrow, Friday, one men's singles, one women's singles and one doubles will start per team - the times will then be added together. The South Tyroleans have a good chance of winning World Cup gold, with the Russians, Austrians and Germans as the toughest competitors. In the three World Cup races of the season so far, the team competition was won twice by the Russians (Laas and Umhausen) and once by the South Tyroleans (Moos i. P.). The defending champions are the South Tyroleans: They triumphed at the 2009 World Cup in Umhausen with Renate Gietl, Anton Blasbichler and the doubles Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara).

Tonight the official entry including an opening ceremony and gala evening will take place in Deutschnofen at 19 p.m. in the festival tent on the Pföslriep piste. Tomorrow, Friday, the first medals will be awarded in the team competition starting at 10 a.m., and in the evening there will be a World Cup party with the group “Volxrock” in the marquee starting at 20 p.m.

Here There is more information about the World Championships for Natural Track Luge in Nova Ponente!

Toboggan World Championships in Deutschnofen - The program on Friday: 10 a.m.: Team competition, followed by a flower ceremony 11.30 a.m.: Training run for the remaining single-seater men and women followed by a team captain’s meeting in the finish area 20 p.m.: World Cup party in the marquee with Volxrock

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Toboggan World Championships in Deutschnofen: South Tyroleans strong in training

Patrick Pigneter and Ekatharina Lavrentjeva confirmed their role as favorites at the official training for the World Luge World Championships on natural track in Nova Ponente.

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