Passeier (ck) - In a breathtaking race in which five athletes were ranked within a margin of 14 hundredths of a second after the first run, it was Thomas Kammerlander (AUT) who managed to break Patrick Pignter’s (ITA) winning streak which had lasted almost two years. “I could tell in training already that I am very fast here, but I never would have believed that it would be good enough to win the race. Each of us had to attack and each of us knew that he could either win the race or finish fifth”, said Kammerlander, who already impressed with a fourth place in Laas in the season opener. “I changed my whole equipment two days before Laas and it was a lucky move because everything worked perfectly well right from the beginning.” Runner up Patrick Pigneter still waits for that luck: “I know that I can be much faster. My sled adjustments were not ideal in Laas and they were not ideal here. I do not know yet what exactly it is, you just have to change the right thing.” The third place was a tie between Hannes Clara (ITA) and Michael Scheikl (AUT), who in the past struggled with his mental strength in tough decisions, but today managed to take it easy: “This was probably the most exciting race in my whole world cup career. I really surprised myself because I was so relaxed. I started working with a mental coach two years ago and I am much better now in delivering my best performance when I need it.” In the womens’ event Ekatharina Lavrentjeva won once again, even though she was not her usual self on the “Bergkristall” track: “For one, this track is always a bit difficult for me with that curve at the beginning and the straight away afterwards. And I also do not feel well, I am a little bit sick”, she said. She won anyway, but Evelin Lanthaler (ITA) guaranteed a close finish with the fastest time in the second run and an overall gap of only 14 hundredths. “I had a few mistakes, but it is great that I managed to narrow the gap between Kathi and myself. I could not try a lot in the training run as I had to go through the qualification, so I never would have thought that I would do so well in the race.” Overjoyed about her third place was also Melanie Schwarz about her second third place in her career: “This was a really intense weekend for me, I was totally nervous and I have been fighting until the end. Now I am looking forward to Umhausen where I won the bronze medal in the 2011 world championships.” Germany can look back to a great team result: With Michaela Maurer ranked fifth, Theresa Maurer ranked ninth and Veronika Nachmann ranked 11th, all three German women finished within the top 11 in the world cup. Georg Maurer finished also ninth and was the best German in the men’s event. In the men’s Nations’ Cup Florian Clara (ITA) won ahead of Anton Blasbichler (ITA) and Austria’s former world champion Gernot Schwab. In the team event Italy with Evelin Lanthaler, Hannes Clara and Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara could celebrate another win. Runner up was Austria. Thomas Kammerlander as well as Christian Schopf/Andreas Schopf achieved the fastest run times, only Tina Unterberger had to give way to her Italian competitor. Team Russia (Ekatharina Lavrentjeva, Stanislav Kovshik, Pavel Porshnev/Ivan Lazarev) finished third ahead of Germany and Poland, Final Results Women: 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS), 0:55,27(1), 0:55,54(2), 1:50,81 2. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA), 0:55,46(2), 0:55,49(1), 1:50,95 3. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA), 0:56,29(3), 0:56,17(3), 1:52,46 4. Greta PINGGERA (ITA), 0:56,29(3), 0:56,20(4), 1:52,49 5. Michaela MAURER (GER), 0:57,04(7), 0:56,74(5), 1:53,78 6. Darija MAEJEVA (RUS), 0:57,01(6), 0:57,12(6), 1:54,13 Final Results Men: 1. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT), 0:54,20(1), 054,83(1), 1:49,03 2. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA), 0:54,32(4), 0:54,98(2), 1:49,30 3. Hannes CLARA (ITA), 0:54,25(2), 0:55,15(4), 1:49,40 3. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT), 0:54,30(3), 0:55,10(3), 1:49,40 5. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT), 0:54,34(5), 0:55,32(6), 1:49,66 6. Rudi RESCH (ITA), 0:55,03(7), 0:55,20(5), 1:50,23 7. Alex GRUBER (ITA), 0:54,84(6), 0:55,82(8), 1:50,66 8. Adam JEDRZEJKO (POL), 0:55,13(8), 0:55,79(7), 1:50,92 World Cup Rankings (2/6): Women: 1. Ekatharina LAVRENTJEVA (RUS) 200 points 2. Evelin LANTHALER (ITA) 155 3. Greta PINGGERA (ITA) 145 4. Michaela MAURER (GER) 101 5. Liudmila AKSENENKO (RUS) 97 6. Melanie SCHWARZ (ITA) 96 6. Tina UNTERBERGER (AUT) 96 8. Darija MALIEVA (RUS) 89 9. Sara BACHMANN (ITA) 84 10. Christina GOETSCHL (AUT) 78 Men: 1. Patrick PIGNETER (ITA) 185 points 2. Thomas KAMMERLANDER (AUT) 160 3. Thomas SCHOPF (AUT) 140 3. Hannes CLARA (ITA) 140 5. Michael SCHEIKL (AUT) 120 6. Stanislav KOVSHIK (RUS) 80 7. Georg MAURER (GER) 75 8. Adam JEDRZEJKO (POL) 74 9. Anton BLASBICHLER (ITA) 69 10. Jurii TALIKH (RUS) 66