Florian Clara

Florian Clara
Florian Clara (back) in the doubles at the EM 2010
nation	Italy
birthday	February 11, 1988
place of birth	Brunico
size	179 cm
Weight	77 kg
Career
discipline	Two-seater, single-seater
society	US Amatoriala Longiarü
National squad	since 2006
status	active
Medal table
World championships 7 × 4 × 0 × European championships 6 × 3 × 1 × Junior World Championship 1 × 1 × 0 × Junior European Championship 1 × 1 × 0 ×
Natural Track Luge World Championships silver Grande Prairie 2007 team gold Moos in Passeier 2009 Two-seater gold Moos in Passerer 2009 team gold Umhausen 2011 team silver Umhausen 2011 Two-seater gold Deutschnofen 2013 Two-seater gold Deutschnofen 2013 team gold Saint Sebastian 2015 Two-seater silver Vatra Dornei 2017 Two-seater silver Vatra Dornei 2017 team gold Latzfons 2019 Two-seater  European Natural Track Luge Championships silver Olang 2008 Two-seater gold St. Sebastian 2010 Two-seater silver St. Sebastian 2010 team gold Umhausen 2014 Two-seater gold Umhausen 2014 team gold Passeier 2016 Two-seater gold Passeier 2016 team gold Shelter 2018 Two-seater silver Shelter 2018 team bronze Moscow 2020 Two-seater  Natural track tobogganing Junior World Championships gold Garmisch-Partenk. 2006 Two-seater silver Latsch 2008 Two-seater  Natural track toboggan junior European Championship gold St. Sebastian 2007 Two-seater silver St. Sebastian 2007 Single seater
Placements in the Natural Track Luge World Cup
Debut in the World Cup January 22, 2006  World Cup victories 56  Overall World Cup ES 4. ( 2014/15 )  Overall World Cup DS 1. ( 2007/2008 , 2008/2009 , 2009/2010 , 2010/2011 , 2012/13 , 2013/14 , 2014/15 , 2015/16 , 2017/18 , 2018/19 , 2019/20 )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Single seater 0 1 0  Two-seater 56 15th 9
last change: May 2, 2020

Florian Clara (born February 11, 1988 in Bruneck ) is an Italian natural track toboggan runner . Together with Patrick Pigneter , he forms one of the most successful two-seater couples. They were four times world and European champions , one junior world and one European champion and won the overall world cup 11 times . In addition, Clara was three times world champion in the team competition. He also starts in a single seater but is less successful. His younger cousin Hannes Clara is also a natural track tobogganist.

Career

In February 2005 Florian Clara took part in a junior European championship for the first time and took twelfth place in the single-seater. On January 22nd, 2006, he competed in the first World Cup race with his doubles partner Patrick Pigneter . They finished sixth and this season it was their only joint World Cup start. Clara achieved her first major success at the Junior World Championships in February 2006 when he won the gold medal in the doubles with Pigneter. In the single-seater he only reached 13th place. At the 2006 European Championship , he only achieved 24th place in the single-seater.

In the 2006/2007 season , the Pigneter / Clara duo competed in three World Cup races and they celebrated their first victory at their first start in Longiarü . At the end of the season they achieved a second place in Moos in Passeier . Since this winter, Clara has also been taking part in World Cup races in a single-seater, but until the 2009/2010 season he never made more than two appearances per season and mostly achieved a tenth place. At the European Junior Championships 2007 in St. Sebastian , the Pigneter / Clara doubles won the gold medal in the doubles and Hannes Clara also achieved second place in the singles, behind Patrick Pigneter. At the 2007 World Cup in Grande Prairie , he achieved eighth place in the single-seater and won the silver medal in the team competition with Renate Gietl and Patrick Pigneter. In the two-seater race, however, the Pigneter / Clara duo was disqualified because the rails of their toboggan, like three other couples, exceeded the maximum permissible temperature.

The two-seater couple Florian Clara and Patrick Pigneter achieved their big breakthrough in the World Cup in the 2007/2008 season . They won all six World Cup races and thus for the first time the overall double-seater World Cup. At the 2008 European Championships in Olang, however, they had to admit defeat to the Russian duo Pavel Porschnew and Ivan Lasarew . In 2008 Clara and Pigneter became Italian champions in the doubles for the first time. They have successfully defended this title every year so far. At the Junior World Championships 2008 in Latsch Florian Clara started in a doubles seat together with his cousin Hannes because Pigneter had already exceeded the age limit. The cousins ​​won the silver medal behind their compatriots Thomas Weiss and Andreas Leiter . Florian Clara finished seventh in the single-seater.

In the 2008/2009 season , Clara and Pigneter won the overall World Cup in doubles for the second time with four wins and two second places. At the 2009 World Cup , they became world champions in doubles and in team competitions. Clara took twelfth place in the single-seater. In the 2009/2010 season , Pigneter / Clara celebrated four wins in six races and thus won the overall double-seater World Cup for the third time in a row, which no one had ever achieved before. At the 2010 European Championships in St. Sebastian, Pigneter / Clara won gold in doubles and silver with the team.

In the 2010/2011 season , the Pigneter / Clara duo celebrated three World Cup victories, with which they won the overall World Cup for the fourth time in a row. In the single-seater, Clara was able to improve significantly compared to previous years. He took part in all six races of the season for the first time, was among the top ten five times and achieved his best World Cup result to date with fifth place at the season finale in Olang . In the single-seater overall World Cup, he reached seventh place. At the 2011 World Championships in Umhausen , Clara finished seventh in a single-seater. Together with Patrick Pigneter he won the silver medal in the doubles behind the Russians Porschnew / Lasarew and in Team Italy I, which also included Renate Gietl and Anton Blasbichler , the gold medal in the team competition for the second time in a row.

The 2011/2012 season started Clara in Latzfons with a fifth place in the single seater and a win in the doubles. Since then, the duo Pigneter / Clara holds the sole record of World Cup victories in doubles, ahead of the Austrians Reinhard Beer and Herbert Kögl . In the overall double-seater World Cup this year they were beaten by the Russians Porschnew / Lasarew, who celebrated four victories of the season, while Pigneter / Clara only achieved two victories. In the overall single-seater World Cup, Clara fell back to eleventh place despite two fifth places at the start of the season. At the 2012 European Championships in Novouralsk , he finished 20th in the single-seater, while he and Patrick Pigneter in the double-seater gave up the race after a race due to a defect in the sled. In the team competition he and his teammates took fourth place.

successes

(Two-seater with Patrick Pigneter)

World championships

• Grande Prairie 2007 : 8th singles, 2nd team
• Moos in Passeier 2009 : 1st doubles, 12th singles, 1st team
• Umhausen 2011 : 2nd doubles, 7th singles, 1st team
• Nova Ponente 2013 : 1st doubles, 1st team, 9th singles
• Sankt Sebastian 2015 : 1st two-seater, 6th single-seater
• Vatra Dornei 2017 : 2nd doubles, 2nd team, 13th singles
• Latzfons 2019 : 1st double, 6th single

European championships

• Umhausen 2006 : 24th single-seater
• Olang 2008 : 2nd two-seater
• St. Sebastian 2010 : 1st doubles, 2nd team
• Nowouralsk 2012 : 20th singles, 4th team
• Umhausen 2014 : 1st doubles, 1st team
• Passeier 2016 : 1st doubles, 1st team, 12th singles
• Obdach 2018 : 1st doubles, 2nd team, 4th singles
• Moscow 2020 : 3rd doubles, 15th singles

Junior World Championships

• Garmisch-Partenkirchen 2006 : 1st two-seater, 13th single-seater
• Latsch 2008 : 2nd two-seater (with Hannes Clara), 7th single-seater

Junior European Championships

• Kandalaksha 2005 : 12th single seater
• St. Sebastian 2007 : 1st two-seater, 2nd single-seater

World cup

• 11 × overall World Cup victory in doubles in the seasons 2007/08 , 2008/09 , 2009/10 , 2010/11 , 2012/13 , 2013/14 , 2014/15 , 2015/16 , 2017/18 , 2018/19 and 2019 / 20th
• 4th overall place in the single-seater World Cup in the 2014/15 season
• 80 podium places in the two-seater, including 56 wins:

date place Lan January 21, 2007 Longiarü Italy December 23, 2007 Laces Italy January 13, 2008 Umhausen Austria January 20, 2008 Umhausen Austria January 27, 2008 Laces Italy February 23, 2008 Železniki Slovenia February 24, 2008 Železniki Slovenia January 25, 2009 Unterammergau Germany January 31, 2009 Deutschnofen Italy February 25, 2009 Novouralsk Russia February 27, 2009 Novouralsk Russia December 17, 2009 Novouralsk Russia January 10, 2010 Umhausen Austria January 24, 2010 Laces Italy February 7, 2010 Latzfons Italy December 10, 2010 Novouralsk Russia January 23, 2011 Kindberg Austria February 25, 2011 Olang Italy January 7, 2012 Latzfons Italy January 28, 2012 Deutschnofen Italy December 29, 2012 Lasa Italy January 12, 2013 Moos in Passeier Italy February 2, 2013 Kindberg Austria February 23, 2013 Vatra Dornei Romania 5th January 2014 Seiser Alm Italy January 11, 2014 Moos in Passeier Italy 17th January 2014 Umhausen Austria January 25, 2014 Olang Italy

date place country February 18, 2014 Vatra Dornei Romania December 13, 2014 Kühtai Austria January 10, 2015 Deutschnofen Italy January 24, 2015 Winter shelter Austria January 31, 2015 Vatra Dornei Romania February 15, 2015 Umhausen Austria December 14, 2015 Kühtai Austria January 10, 2016 Laces Italy 17th January 2016 Vatra Dornei Romania January 25, 2016 Moscow Russia February 1, 2016 Deutschnofen Italy 20th February 2016 Umhausen Austria December 11, 2016 Kühtai Austria 22nd January 2017 Železniki Slovenia 3rd December 2017 Kühtai Austria January 7, 2018 Latzfons Italy January 14, 2018 Passeier Valley Italy January 21, 2018 Saint Sebastian Austria 17th February 2018 Umhausen Austria January 12, 2019 Winterleiten Austria 20th January 2019 Moscow Russia January 27, 2019 Deutschnofen Italy February 10, 2019 Vatra Dornei Romania January 10, 2020 Passeier Valley Italy January 12, 2020 Passeier Valley Italy 19th January 2020 Vatra Dornei Romania January 26, 2020 Deutschnofen Italy February 15, 2020 Umhausen Austria

Italian championships

• Five-time Italian champion in doubles (2008 to 2012)

Web links

Commons : Florian Clara  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Florian Clara in the database of the International Luge Federation
• Florian Clara ( Memento from April 15, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) at the Italian Winter Sports Association (Italian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 16th FIL World Championships on Natural Track Grande Prairie CAN. International Luge Federation, February 18, 2007, accessed on February 23, 2010.
2. ↑ 24th FIL European Championships in Novouralsk (RUS) - Pavel Porshnev / Ivan Lazarev (RUS) European champions for the fourth time. International Luge Federation, February 18, 2012, accessed on March 4, 2012.