Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente (ck) - Even though the names of the new world champions is no surprise, the last day of the 19th FIL World Championships held hard to beat excitements. After two runs Patrick Pigneter (ITA) and Thomas Schopf (AUT) were separated by only one hundredths of a second. Thomas Schopf did everything he could and took the lead with the so far fastest time. However, Pigneter’s answer was a time yet five hundredths faster and snatched the title away. In his intermediate times he was behind Schopf, but a perfect finish in the last two curves secured him the first place. “I think this was the most wonderful race in my entire career”, said the new world champion overwhelmed. “The margin was so small, but I never had any doubts that I couldn’t do it, I always believed in myself and I was fully focused in the last run.” Runner up Thomas Schopf was disappointed in his first reaction: “Of course I am disappointed now, but I know that eventually the happiness will win. It was my big goal to beat Patrick. Twice this year it was tight already and never as close as today, 16 hundredths in three runs, this is nothing.” Very happy was Alex Gruber (ITA) about his bronze medal. “I am so happy, I never would have thought that I would get a chance to race for medals here. But it went well in the training runs already, then the team medal from the first day of course took away a lot of pressure, but this singles medal is even more valuable”, he said. In the women’s race the exciting decision was the fight for the silver and the bronze medals. The gold medal already had a name engraved: Ekatharina Lavrentjeva (RUS) accumulated a two seconds winning margin in three runs and claimed her fourth world champion title: “I think this title today is the most important one for me. I won my first title at the age of 18 in 2000 and I did not know that I could win. Any podium finish would have been a great success. After that, I always wanted to win and the pressure was much higher. It’s another two years until the next world championships and I have no idea where I will be then, so this title counts most.” That it was just Melanie Schwarz from the strong Italian team, who finished best behind Lavrentjeva, kept her speechless: “I do not have the words for this. My season did not start well, but then I improved from race to race. With my WCH-bronze medal in Umhausen two years ago, I already made a dream come true. Then there was the team gold medal on Friday and now this, I am just really, really happy.” She already dared to risk a glimpse at Lavrentjeva’s times: “For the first time ever I beat her in some intermediate times and that made me really proud. But I don’t put any pressure on myself“, said Schwarz who works with a mental coach and came well prepared to Deutschnofen. Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) won the bronze medal and was very happy, albeit not with her runs: “Towards the end it was really close, my first two runs were not ideal, but I am really happy that I won the medal, my first individual medal.” Germany managed once again to place all three women within the top ten. Michaela Maurer finished fifth and 14-year-old Theresa Maurer and Veronika Nachmann ninth and tenth respectively. Final Results Women (27): 1. Ekatahrina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 0:55,45(1), 0:55,85(1), 0:55,57(1), 2:46,87 2. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 0:56,11(2), 0:56,19(2), 0:56,57(3), 2:48,87 3. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 0:56,27(3), 0:56,40(3), 0:56,42(2), 2:49,09 4. Greta PINGGERA (ITA), 0:56,62(4), 0:56,72(4), 0:57,26(5), 2:50,60 5. Michaela MAURER (GER), 0:57,09(5), 0:57,20(5), 0:57,70(9), 2:51,99 6. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT), 0:57,35(7), 0:57,46(6), 0:57,28(6), 2:52,09 7. Sarah GRUBER (ITA), 0:57,21(6), 0:57,61(7), 0:57,32(7), 2:52,14 8. Liudmila AKSENENKO (RUS), 0:57,47(8), 0:58,15(11), 0:57,12(4), 2:52,74 9. Theresa MAURER (GER), 0:57,63(10), 0:58,10(10), 0:57,47(8), 2:57,47(8), 2:53,20 10. Veronika NACHMANN (GER), 0:57,53(9), 0:58,34(13), 0:58,25(12), 2.54,12 Final Results Men (50): 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 0:54,72(1), 0:54,61(2),0:54,78(1), 2:44,11 2. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 0:54,78(2), 0:54,56(1), 0:54,83(2), 2:44,17 3. Alex GRUBER (ITA), 0:54,82(3), 0:55,03(4), 0:54,84(3), 2:44,69 4. Hannes CLARA (ITA), 0:55,35(7), 0:54,93(3), 0:54,96(4), 2:45,24 5. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 0:55,20(5), 0:5506(5), 0:55,33(6), 2:45,59 6. Stefan GRUBER (ITA), 0:55,13(4), 0:55,33(7), 0:55,48(7), 2:45,94 7. Florian BREITENBERGER (ITA), 0:55,22(6), 0:55,34(8), 0:55,53(8), 2:46,09 8. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 0:55,50(8), 0:55,77(10), 0:55,27(5), 2:46,54 9. Florian CLARA (ITA), 0:55,73(10), 0:55,32(6), 0:55,91(13), 2:46,96 10. Gernot SCHWAB (AUT), 0:55,78(12), 0:55,70(9), 0:55,82(11), 2:47,30 11. Georg MAURER (GER), 2:47,33 12. Gerald KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 2:47,38 13. Stanislav KOVSHIK (RUS), 2:47,51 14. Adam JEDRZEJKO (POL), 2:47,75