Christian Schopf

Christian Schopf
Christian Schopf (front) at the EM 2010
nation	Austria
birthday	March 12, 1988
Career
discipline	Two-seater, single-seater
society	SC shelter
National squad	since 2005
status	active
Medal table
World championships 0 × 3 × 0 × European championships 1 × 3 × 3 × Junior World Championship 1 × 0 × 1 ×
Natural Track Luge World Championships silver Moos in Passeier 2009 Two-seater silver Moos in Passeier 2009 team silver Deutschnofen 2013 Two-seater  European Natural Track Luge Championships gold St. Sebastian 2010 team silver Novouralsk 2012 Two-seater bronze Novouralsk 2012 team bronze Umhausen 2014 team silver Passeier 2016 Two-seater silver Passeier 2016 team bronze Passeier 2016 Single seater  Natural track tobogganing Junior World Championships gold Kindberg 2004 Two-seater bronze Garmisch-Partenk. 2006 Two-seater
Placements in the Natural Track Luge World Cup
Debut in the World Cup December 11, 2005  World Cup victories 4th  Overall World Cup DS 2. ( 2012/13 )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Two-seater 4th 7th 11
last change: May 4, 2020

Christian Schopf (born March 12, 1988 ) is an Austrian natural track tobogganist . Together with his cousin Thomas Schopf he became junior world champion in 2004 in the doubles. Since the 2005/2006 season he has competed with his brother Andreas Schopf in the World Cup as well as in World and European Championships. You have won four World Cup races so far, finished third twice and finished second in the overall World Cup once. They became European team champions in 2010 and won a further nine medals at world and European championships. Christian Schopf occasionally competed in a single-seater.

Career

Christian Schopf initially formed a two-seater couple with his cousin Thomas, who was a year younger than him. They celebrated their first major success at their first junior world championship in 2004 in Kindberg , where they won the gold medal. Until 2007 they started together at junior championships and still won the bronze medal at the junior world championships in 2006 , but remained just behind the medal ranks at the junior European championships in 2005 and 2007 as fourth and fifth respectively. At the Junior European Championship in 2005 Christian Schopf also took part in the single-seater, but only finished 22nd.

In the World Cup and in the championships of the general class Christian Schopf starts since winter 2005/2006 with its four year older brother Andreas in doubles, previously with his cousin Wolfgang had formed a team. 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 from the first due to illness and as a result 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 .

Because Andreas Schopf had to take a break in winter 2007/2008 due to time constraints, Christian Schopf started this season with Herbert Kögl, 22 years his senior . They took part in a World Cup race on January 27th in Latsch , where they finished sixth, and two weeks later at the European Championship 2008 in Olang , where they finished eighth. At the Junior World Championship in Latsch in 2008 Christian Schopf achieved 13th place in the single-seater.

Since the 2008/2009 season he has formed a team again with his brother and compared to previous years they were able to improve 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 . As in the previous year, they finished third 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 another medal in fourth place. 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 Casies ; 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 Christian Schopf also takes part in roller luge competitions, both in single and double seats 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

• 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

• Umhausen 2006 : 6th two-seater
• Olang 2008 : 8th 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, 3rd singles
• Obdach 2018 : 10th single seater
• Moscow 2020 : 6th single seater

Junior World Championships

• Kindberg 2004 : 1st two-seater
• Garmisch-Partenkirchen 2006 : 3rd two-seater
• Latsch 2008 : 13th single seater

Junior European Championships

• Kandalakscha 2005 : 4th doubles, 22nd single
• St. Sebastian 2007 : 5th two-seater

World cup

• 2nd place overall in the doubles in the 2012/13 season
• 3rd place overall in the two-seater in the seasons 2008/2009 and 2009/2010
• 22 podium places, including 4 wins:

date	place	country	discipline
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

Austrian championships

• Austrian national champion in doubles 2010, 2011 and 2012

Web links

Commons : Christian Schopf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Christian Schopf in the database of the International Luge Federation
• Christian Schopf at the Austrian Toboggan Association

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The first decision at the Natural Track World Cup has been made. www.rodel-austria.at, January 4, 2007.
2. ↑ ÖRV Natural Railway Team sensationally strong at the Home World Cup. www.rodel-austria.at, January 13, 2007.