Natural Track Luge World Championship 2001
The 13th FIL Natural Track Luge World Championship 2001 took place from January 17th to 21st in Stein an der Enns in Styria . For the first time, a team competition was held in addition to the single-seater competitions for women and men and the double-seater competition. All medals went to Italy and Austria , with Italy being the more successful nation with three golds.
Single seater men
In the men's singles, the Italian Anton Blasbichler , who also won the team competition, became world champion. Blasbichler reached the medal ranks at the last three world championships. This time he was able to win the competition with a clear best time in the third race. Silver went to the Austrian Ferdinand Hirzegger , who was still in the lead after two rounds. For him it was the first and only medal at a world championship. Bronze was won by Gerhard Pilz from Austria, who was world champion in single-seater five times in a row from 1986 to 1996. The defending champion Gerald Kallan finished seventh.
Single-seater women
| space | Surname | time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 Sonja Steinacher
|
3: 56.12 min |
| 2 |
Renate Gietl
|
+ 0.74 s |
| 3 |
 Sandra Mariner
|
+ 1.26 s |
| 4th |
Sandra Lanthaler
|
+ 1.47 s |
| 5 |
 Lyubov Panjutina
|
+ 1.90 s |
| 6th |
Sabine Kogler
|
+ 2.49 s |
| 7th |
Ekaterina Lavrentieva
|
+ 3.16 s |
| 8th |
Sandra Schopf
|
+ 5.62 s |
| 9 |
Irene Mitterstieler
|
+ 6.34 s |
| 10 |
 Michaela Maurer
|
+ 9.37 s |
| 11 |
 Magdalena Hula
|
+ 9.54 s |
| 12 |
Julia Wetlowa
|
+ 9.80 s |
| 13 |
Ewelina Żurek
|
+ 11.88 s |
| 14th |
 Ursina Schneider
|
+ 41.66 s |
| - |
Polina Danilevskaya
|
DNS |
| - |
 Kristine Pudogina
|
DNF |
| - |
Marlies Wagner
|
DNF |
In the women's single-seater, the Italian Sonja Steinacher won for the first time with the best times in the first and second rounds , and she was already among the top three in 1998 and 2000 . Her compatriot Renate Gietl landed in second place , winning her first World Cup medal in the single-seater competition. Bronze went to the Austrian Sandra Mariner , who also finished third in 1996 . The defending champion Ekaterina Lavrentieva only reached seventh place.
Two-seater
| space | Surname | time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Wolfgang Schopf - Andreas Schopf
|
2: 44.97 min |
| 2 |
Armin Mair - David Mair
|
+ 0.44 s |
| 3 |
Peter Lechner - Peter Braunegger
|
+ 1.30 s |
| 4th |
Andrzej Laszczak - Damian Waniczek
|
+ 2.27 s |
| 5 |
Eddy Perrin - Emanuele Giannelli
|
+ 3.39 s |
| 6th |
Thomas Graf - Michael Graf
|
+ 3.56 s |
| - |
Denis Alimov - Roman Molwistow
|
DNS |
| - |
Reinhard Beer - Herbert Kögl
|
DNS |
With the best time in the second race, the Austrians Wolfgang Schopf and Andreas Schopf became world champions in the doubles for the first time. Silver went to the defending champions Armin Mair and David Mair from Italy, who led after the first run. The bronze medal went to Peter Lechner and Peter Braunegger from Austria. For them it was their only medal at world championships besides silver in the team competition.
Team competition
| space | Surname | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Italy I
|
86 |
| 2 |
Austria II
|
86 |
| 3 |
Italy II
|
83 |
| 4th |
Poland
|
78 |
| - |
Austria I.
|
DNF |
The team competition, which was held for the first time at world championships, was won by Team Italy I ahead of Team Austria II, which had the same number of points but had a poorer overall time. Team Italy II took bronze, fourth place went to the team from Poland. Team Austria I did not make it into the ranking after the doubles failed.
Medal table
| space | country | gold | silver | bronze | total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |
Italy
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 6th |
| 2. |
Austria
|
1 | 2 | 3 | 6th |
literature
- Harald Steyrer, Herbert Wurzer, Egon Theiner: 50 years of FIL 1957–2007. The history of the International Luge Federation in three volumes . tape II . Egoth Verlag, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-902480-46-0 , p. 298 .
