Andreas Schopf (natural track toboggan runner)

	Andreas Schopf
	; Andreas Schopf (back) at the Austrian championships 2010
nation	Austria
birthday	April 9, 1984
place of birth	Judenburg
Career
discipline	Two-seater
society	SC shelter
National squad	since 2000
status	active
Medal table
Natural Track Luge World Championships
European Natural Track Luge Championships
Natural track tobogganing Junior World Championships
Natural track toboggan junior European Championship
	Placements in the Natural Track Luge World Cup
Debut in the World Cup	January 4, 2001
World Cup victories	7th
Overall World Cup DS	1. ( 2000/2001 )
	last change: May 4, 2020

Andreas Schopf (born April 9, 1984 in Judenburg ) is an Austrian natural track tobogganist . Together with his cousin Wolfgang Schopf formed one of the most successful two-seater pairs in the first half of the 2000s. They became world champions twice , European champions once and European junior champions twice . In addition, they won three World Cup races, once the overall World Cup, and in 2000 they became Austrian champions. Andreas Schopf has been racing with his brother Christian since the 2005/2006 season . With him he has won four world cup races, three silver medals at world championships, the European team championship title in 2010 and two further EM medals in 2012.

Career

In a two-seater with Wolfgang Schopf (until 2004/2005)

Together with his cousin Wolfgang , Andreas Schopf achieved their first international success by winning the bronze medal at the Junior World Championships in 1999 in Hüttau . In winter 1999/2000 they won the overall ranking of the Intercontinental Cup, were junior European champions and Austrian state champions in doubles.

The Schopf cousins started in the World Cup from the 2000/2001 season . In the first race on January 4th in Umhausen they reached second place, but only two sixth places followed in Unterammergau and Lüsen . The then 16 and 17 year old cousins caused a stir in their first title fight in the general class, the 2001 World Championships in Stein an der Enns . With the fastest time in the second race, they left defending champions Armin and David Mair from Italy by nine hundredths of a second and became world champions in the doubles for the first time. A week later they were able to successfully defend their Junior European Championship and then they won the two remaining World Cup races in Moscow and Hüttau, relegating last year's winners Armin and David Mair to second place by 15 points and winning the overall World Cup in their first season.

The next two years were not quite as successful in the World Cup for Andreas and Wolfgang Schopf. With two podium places each, but no victory, they finished fifth overall in the 2001/2002 and 2002/2003 seasons . In the medal decisions, however, they were still unbeatable: at the 2002 European Championships in Frantschach they were European champions with eleven hundredths of a second ahead of Reinhard Beer and Herbert Kögl, and at the 2003 World Championships in Železniki they won 1.81 seconds ahead of the Russian Pawel Porschnew and Ivan Lazarew their second world title. They also won the silver medal at the 2003 Junior European Championship .

In the 2003/2004 World Cup season , Andreas and Wolfgang Schopf achieved the same number of points as the Russians Porschnew and Lasarew with a third and three second places as well as a victory in Moscow on January 25th. But because they could show a better result, the overall World Cup victory went to the Russians and the Schopf cousins came second. At the 2004 European Championships in Hüttau they also had to admit defeat to the Russians Porschnew / Lasarew and their compatriots Denis Alimow and Roman Molwistow and won the bronze medal.

The 2004/2005 season was Andreas' last together with his cousin Wolfgang, who ended his career after this winter. They were able to finish the first three World Cup races of the season on the podium, but after that they were no longer among the top three and in the overall World Cup they finally took fourth place. At their last World Cup in Laces they were without a medal for the first time, because they only came tenth in the doubles and sixth in the team competition.

In a two-seater with Christian Schopf (from 2005/2006)

Since the end of his cousin's career, Andreas Schopf has started with his four years younger brother Christian . In their first joint World Cup race on December 10, 2005, they did not finish after a failure in the second run, but after that they were always able to place between fourth and sixth place in the 2005/2006 season, making them fifth in the overall World Cup . At the 2006 European Championships in Umhausen they were sixth.

The Schopf brothers did not compete in the first two World Cup races of the 2006/2007 season because they were absent in the first due to illness and as a result they did not qualify for the second World Cup within the team. They took part in the other races again, achieved two fifth places as the best placements in Moos in Passeier , but fell back to tenth place in the overall standings. At the 2007 World Cup in Grande Prairie , they finished fifth, at the same time as the Italian doubles Martin Psenner and Johannes Hofer .

In the winter of 2007/2008, Andreas Schopf had to take a break because he had too little time for training due to his studies. He has been active again with his brother since the 2008/2009 season and compared to previous years they have increased significantly this winter. In the third World Cup race of the season on January 25th in Unterammergau , they achieved their first podium finish with second place and with a further three third places they also achieved third place in the overall World Cup. At the 2009 World Championships in Moos in Passeier , they won the silver medal in doubles behind the Italians Patrick Pigneter and Florian Clara, and they also came second in the team competition in Team Austria I together with Melanie Batkowski and her cousin Thomas Schopf .

The Schopf brothers started the 2009/2010 World Cup season with three fourth places. This was followed by two podium places in Latsch and Latzfons , before they celebrated their first joint World Cup victory at the end of the season in Garmisch-Partenkirchen . For Andreas this was the fourth World Cup victory and the first in six years. As in the previous year, they achieved third place in the overall World Cup. At the beginning of January they became Austrian champions in doubles. At the 2010 European Championships in St. Sebastian they won the gold medal together with Melanie Batkowski and Thomas Kammerlander in the team competition, which was also held for the first time in the context of an EM. In the doubles, however, they missed a medal as fourth. Like last season, Schopf / Schopf started the 2010/2011 season with two fourth places in Novouralsk . At the beginning of January 2011, they successfully defended their state championship on the Grantau natural toboggan run . On January 16, 2011 they celebrated their second joint World Cup victory in Gsies ; a week later they came third in Kindberg . They took fourth place in the overall World Cup. At the 2011 World Cup in Umhausen, however, they only achieved sixth place, while they were fourth in the team competition with Marlies Wagner and Thomas Kammerlander as Team Austria II.

At the beginning of 2012 Christian and Andreas Schopf became national champions in doubles for the third time in a row. In the 2011/2012 season , they placed in the top five in four of the six races of the World Cup . In contrast to the two previous years, however, this time they did not manage to win and only achieved a podium finish with second place in Nowouralsk. As in the previous year, they finished fourth in the overall World Cup. They celebrated their greatest success of the winter at the 2012 European Championships in Novouralsk: three days after they were second in the World Cup race behind local heroes Pavel Porschnew and Ivan Lazarew , they also came second behind the two Russians at the European Championships on the same track. They also won the bronze medal in the team competition with the two single-seaters Melanie Batkowski and Michael Scheikl .

In the summer, Andreas Schopf also takes part in roller luge competitions, both in single and double seats together with his brother. In the doubles, the two have been among the top three in the overall ranking of the Austrian Roller Luge Cup several times , and in 2006 they won it.

successes

World championships

Stein an der Enns 2001 : 1st two-seater
Železniki 2003 : 1st two-seater
Latsch 2005 : 10th doubles, 6th team
Grande Prairie 2007 : 5th two-seater
Moos in Passeier 2009 : 2nd doubles, 2nd team
Umhausen 2011 : 6th doubles, 4th team
Deutschnofen 2013 : 2nd two-seater
Vatra Dornei 2017 : 4th two-seater

European championships

Frantschach 2002 : 1st two-seater
Hüttau 2004 : 3rd two-seater
Umhausen 2006 : 6th two-seater
St. Sebastian 2010 : 4th doubles, 1st team
Nowouralsk 2012 : 2nd doubles, 3rd team
Umhausen 2014 : 3rd team, 4th doubles
Passeier 2016 : 2nd doubles, 2nd team

Junior World Championships

Hüttau 1999 : 3rd two-seater

Junior European Championships

Umhausen 2000 : 1st two-seater
Tiers 2001 : 1st two-seater
Kreuth 2003 : 2nd two-seater

World cup

Overall victory in the two-seater in the 2000/2001 season
2nd overall place in the doubles in the seasons 2003/2004 and 2012/13
3rd place overall in the two-seater in the seasons 2008/2009 and 2009/2010
37 podium places, including 7 wins:

date	place	country	discipline
February 11, 2001	Moscow	Russia	Two-seater
February 18, 2001	Huettau	Austria	Two-seater
January 25, 2004	Moscow	Russia	Two-seater
February 27, 2010	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Germany	Two-seater
January 16, 2011	Casies	Italy	Two-seater
February 28, 2013	Vatra Dornei	Romania	Two-seater
December 22, 2013	Novouralsk	Russia	Two-seater