Gernot Schwab

Gernot Schwab (born 10 January 1979 in Bad Ischl ) is an Austrian natural track luge. He was European champion in 2006 and 2007 single-seater double world champion in single seater and in the team competition. In the World Cup he reached twice now second overall and four race wins, he also was five times Austrian Champion in the single-seater.

Career

Schwab began at the age of six years with the natural track luge. End of the 1990s, he scored his first major international success when he lake in Huttau won at the Junior European Championship 1998 silver medal and the field at the Junior World Cup 1999 bronze medal in the single-seater. In addition, he was in 1999 as well as the Austrian Junior Championship decide the overall ranking of the Intercontinental Cup for himself, to which he was admitted to the Austrian national team.

Since the 1999/2000 season starts in the Schwab Cup. In his first winter, he played four World Cup races, scored its best result a fifth season ends in Aosta and finished eighth overall. The next winter he attended only three races and dropped to 15th place in the overall standings. In his first World Cup in 2000 in Olang he was eight and at the World Championships in 2001 in Stein an der Enns tenth in the single-seater. At the beginning of the season 2001/2002 the then 22 -year-olds in Olang the first podium finish in the World Cup succeeded. But in the remaining races, he reached for the most part only placements to rank ten and thus the eighth place in the overall standings. At the 2002 European Championships in Frantschach he won third place in the single-seater his first medal in the general class.

In 2003, his career suffered a major setback when he was sidelined for several months after a training accident. In the 2003/2004 season he managed a successful comeback. Five of the six World Cup races, he finished among the fastest three, where he scored three second places in Grande Prairie, Garmisch -Partenkirchen and Triesenberg, reaching the second place in the overall World Cup behind the Italians Anton Blasbichler. In the same year he was first Austrian champion in the single-seater. This title he won from 2006 to 2012 four more times. At the 2004 European Championships in Huttau he remained with eleventh place but well behind his World Cup results.

The 2004/2005 season did not go as desired. Only in the last World Cup race, he went to the podium, so he fell back in the overall standings to seventh. At the World Cup 2005 in Laces he was only tenth. In the next winter, Schwab was able to increase significantly again. In the second World Cup race of the season 2005/2006 he celebrated Kindberg his first win and with two more victories in Grande Prairie and a third place in Oberperfuss he had to the overall World Cup only beaten the Italians Patrick Pigneter, although it won only one race, but all others finished in second place. At the European Championships 2006 in Obergurgl Schwab won the gold medal ahead of compatriot Thomas Schopf and Patrick Pigneter. The following winter he won at the World Championships 2007 in Grande Praire gold medal in the single-seater and together with Melanie Batkowski, Christian Schatz and Gerhard Muhlbacher the Golden in the team competition.

In the seasons 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 Schwab finished with two podium finishes, including a victory on 20 January 2008 in Obergurgl, ranked fourth in the overall World Cup. At the 2008 European Championships in Olang he managed only tenth place. In the 2008/2009 season Schwab scored three podium finishes, which he improved in the World Cup compared to previous one rank to number three. At the 2009 World Championships in moss pass eggs in the defending champion finished fifth. In the World Cup season 2009/2010 two third places in Novouralsk and Latzfons were his best results. The end of December he was injured in a practice crash in his left knee, which is why he had to pause for three and a half weeks, and among other things, the 2010 European missed in St. Sebastian. In the overall World Cup, he reached the third place as last year.

In the season 2010/2011 Schwab scored two podiums in four races, which he finished sixth in the World Cup. However, for two of the six World Cup races, he could not qualify within the Austrian team. At the World Cup 2011 in Obergurgl, he was eleventh. At the beginning of 2012, Schwab was the fifth time Austrian champion in the single-seater, but in the World Cup, he remained in the season 2011/2012 after the previous year's results. He drove for the first time in eleven years in any World Cup races into the top five, which is why he achieved his worst finish in the World Cup as eighth in nine years. At the European Championships 2012 in Novouralsk he finished tenth in the single-seater.

Achievements

World Championships

  • Olang 2000: 8 seater
  • Stein an der Enns 2001: 10 seater
  • Laces 2005: 10 seater
  • Grande Prairie 2007: first single-seater, 1st team
  • Moos in Passeier 2009: 5 seater
  • Umhausen 2011: 11 seater

European Championships

  • Frantschach 2002: 3 seater
  • Huttau 2004: 11 seater
  • Umhausen 2006: first single-seater
  • Olang 2008: 10 seater
  • Novouralsk 2012: 10 seater

Junior World Championships

  • Aosta 1997: 6 seater
  • Huttau 1999: 3 seater

European Junior Championships

World Cup

  • 2nd overall in the single-seater in the seasons 2003/2004 and 2005/2006
  • 3rd overall in the single-seater in the seasons 2008/2009 and 2009/2010
  • 22 podium finishes, including 4 victories:

Austrian Championships

  • Austrian champion in single-seater 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2012

Awards (excerpt)

  • 2007: Gold Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria
FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2007 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2002 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2006 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2000 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2001 Frantschach-Sankt Gertraud FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2004 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2005 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2008 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2009 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2010 Sankt Sebastian, Styria FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2011 Gerhard Pilz Reinhard Gruber Gerald Kallan Robert Batkowski Gerald Kammerlander Sonja Steinacher Armin Mair David Mair (natural track luger and skeleton racer) Reinhard Beer Renate Gietl Florian Clara Damiano Lugon Manfred Danklmaier Franz Obrist
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