Natural Track Luge World Championship 2007

The 16th FIL Natural Track Luge World Championship took place from February 15th to 19th, 2007 in the Canadian Grande Prairie . It was the first and so far only world championship outside of Europe.

Single seater men

space	Surname	time
01	Gernot Schwab	3: 51.38 min
02	Gerhard Pilz	+ 01.04 s
03	Patrick Pigneter	+ 01.16 s
04th	Martin Psenner	+ 01.20 s
05	Florian Breitenberger	+ 01.32 s
06th	Thomas Kammerlander	+ 02.66 s
07th	Gerald Kammerlander	+ 02.73 s
08th	Florian Clara	+ 03.45 s
09	Christian Wichan	+ 03.71 s
10	Georg Maurer	+ 03.85 s
11	Kaj Johnson	+ 04.07 s
12	Anton Blasbichler	+ 04.19 s
13	Marcus Cruel	+ 04.46 s
14th	Robert Batkowski	+ 04.55 s
15th	Florian Batkowski	+ 04.80 s
16	John Gibson	+ 04.93 s
17th	Adam Jędrzejko	+ 06.07 s
18th	Bjorn Kierspel	+ 06.09 s
19th	Ivan Lazarev	+ 06.40 s
20th	Johannes Hofer	+ 07.48 s
21st	Žiga Pagon	+ 07.99 s
22nd	Miha Meglič	+ 08.80 s
23	Greg Jones	+ 09.21 s
24	Borut Kralj	+ 10.12 s
25th	Julien Schultz	+ 10.80 s
26th	Andrzej Laszczak	+ 11.64 s
27	Galabin Bozew	+ 13.33 s
28	Corey Pusey	+ 13.37 s
29	Knut Solheim	+ 20.71 s
30th	Kristian Roel	+ 21.12 s
31	Mikko Uotila	+ 21.13 s
32	Vincent Schultz	+ 21.17 s
33	Patrik Nowik	+ 27.39 s
34	Eddy Dunlop	+ 38.92 s
35	David Scott	+ 49.22 s
36	Mark Vickery	+ 53.73 s
-	René Uhlmann	DNF (2nd run)
-	Alexander Yegorov	DNS (1st run)
-	Damian Waniczek	DNS (1st run)

Date: February 18 (1st race) and February 19, 2007 (2nd and 3rd race)

After the Austrian Gernot Schwab had already become European champion last year, he won the world championship for the first time this year. With the best times in the second and third rounds, he won by over a second on his compatriot Gerhard Pilz , who was still in the lead after the first run. For the five-time world champion and two-time European champion Pilz, this race marked the end of his three decades-long career. The bronze medal went to the Italian Patrick Pigneter , who had already finished third in the men's singles at the 2005 World Championships and the 2006 European Championships . The defending champion Anton Blasbichler finished twelfth.

Single-seater women

space	Surname	time
01	Ekaterina Lavrentieva	3: 53.27 min
02	Julia Wetlowa	+ 02.15 s
03	Melanie Batkowski	+ 03.47 s
04th	Renate Gietl	+ 03.68 s
05	Marlies Wagner	+ 05.19 s
06th	Renate Kasslatter	+ 06.11 s
07th	Kinga Gawlas	+ 06.18 s
08th	Michaela Maurer	+ 06.44 s
09	Barbara Abart	+ 06.94 s
10	Tina Unterberger	+ 07.64 s
11	Melissa Jones	+ 24.60 s
-	Nina Bučinel	DSQ (1st run)

Date: February 18 (1st and 2nd race) and February 19, 2007 (3rd race)

The Russian Jekaterina Lavrentjewa won her second world championship title in a row and the third overall with the best times in all three rounds. Silver went to her teammate Julija Wetlowa , who won her only medal at major events. Bronze went to the Austrian Melanie Batkowski , who had become world champion with the team two days earlier.

Two-seater

space	Surname	time
1	Pavel Pornev - Ivan Lazarev	2: 45.58 min
2	Alexander Yegorov - Pyotr Popov	+ 1.42 s
3	Christian Schatz - Gerhard Mühlbacher	+ 1.81 s
4th	Andrzej Laszczak - Damian Waniczek	+ 2.79 s
5	Martin Psenner - Johannes Hofer	+ 4.66 s
	Christian Schopf - Andreas Schopf	+ 4.66 s
7th	Björn Kierspel - Christian Wichan	+ 4.89 s
-	Borut Kralj - Žiga Pagon	DSQ (1st run)
-	Patrick Pigneter - Florian Clara	DSQ (1st run)
-	Denis Alimov - Roman Molwistow	DSQ (1st run)
-	Reinhard Beer - Herbert Kögl	DSQ (1st run)

Date: February 18, 2007 (both races)

The Russians Pawel Porschnew and Iwan Lasarew were able to successfully defend their world championship title from 2005 with best times in both races. Her compatriots Alexander Jegorow and Pyotr Popow took second place after they were still third in the first round, their first medal at major events. The bronze medal was won by the Austrians Christian Schatz and Gerhard Mühlbacher , who were still in second place after the first round despite falling shortly before the finish line. For them it was the second medal at this World Cup after gold in the team competition.

Four pairs of two-seaters were disqualified before the start because the rails on their sleds were too warm.

Team competition

space	Surname	Points
1	Austria I. Melanie Batkowski Gernot Schwab Christian Schatz - Gerhard Mühlbacher	89
2	Italy I Renate Gietl Patrick Pigneter Patrick Pigneter - Florian Clara	85
3	Austria II Marlies Wagner Gerald Kammerlander Reinhard Beer - Herbert Kögl	82
4th	Russia II Julija Wetlowa Alexander Egorov Alexander Egorov - Pyotr Popov	75
5	Poland Kinga Gawlas Adam Jędrzejko Andrzej Laszczak - Damian Waniczek	74
6th	Italy II Barbara Abart Florian Breitenberger Martin Psenner - Johannes Hofer	73
7th	Germany Michaela Maurer Marcus Grausam Björn Kierspel - Christian Wichan	66
8th	Slovenia Nina Bučinel Miha Meglič Borut Kralj - Žiga Pagon	64
-	Russia I. Ekaterina Lavrentjewa Ivan Lazarew Pavel Porschnew - Ivan Lasarew	DSQ

Date: February 17, 2007

With the most points and the best overall time, Team Austria I won the team competition. Teams Italy I and Austria II follow in second and third place. Team Russia I was disqualified because the temperature of the rails on Ivan Lasarev's toboggan was too high.

Medal table

space	country	gold	silver	bronze	total
1.	Russia	2	2	-	4th
2.	Austria	2	1	3	6th
3.	Italy	-	1	1	2

Web links

• Result lists

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Natural Track News of February 18, 2007: 16th FIL World Championships on Natural Track Grande Prairie CAN International Luge Federation, February 18, 2007, accessed on May 15, 2010
2. ↑ Natural Track News of February 17, 2007: 16th FIL World Championships on Natural Track Grande Prairie CAN International Luge Federation, February 17, 2007, accessed on May 15, 2010