Robert Batkowski

Robert Batkowski ( born May 16, 1978 in Innsbruck) is an Austrian natural track luge, and since 1998 member of the Austrian natural track luge team. His greatest successes so far are two world titles in 2003 and 2005 single-seater in the team competition, the European champion title in 2008 in the single-seater and winning the overall World Cup in season 2002/2003. His younger brothers Florian and Melanie are also natural track luge.

Career

Batkowski took part in his first race in the winter of 1984. After several successes at youth level to the national level, he qualified in 1996 for the Austrian junior national team and reached the same year his first major international success when he Szczyrk won the gold medal at the European Junior Championships in 1996. From 1996 to 1998, he was three times in a row, Austrian Junior Champion in the single-seater.

Since the winter of 1998/1999 Batkowski start in the World Cup. Already in his first race in December 1998 in Sölden, he reached the third place and came up with three other top- five finishes in fifth place in the overall World Cup single-seater. That same winter he started in Szczyrk first time at a European Championship, reaching it in second place. In June 1999, he completed his education at the HTL from Fulpmes. In the World Cup seasons 1999/2000, 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 Batkowski reached with two podiums always ranked fourth in single-seat World Cup, where he in Obergurgl won his first World Cup race in the 2001/2002 season. At the World Championships in 2000 and 2001 he stayed with a fifth and a 13th place without a medal, but at the 2002 European Championships in Frantschach - Sankt Gertraud he again reached the second place in the single-seater.

The 2002/2003 season was Batkowskis most successful: He celebrated again in Obergurgl his second World Cup victory came in five of the six races of the season on the podium, winning in front of his teammate Gerhard Pilz and Gerald Kallan the single-seat World Cup. The second great success this winter he scored in the 2003 World Cup in Železniki, when he was also against fungal and Kallan world champion in single-seaters. He was also in 2003 for the first time Austrian champion in the single-seater. In the next few years Batkowski could not repeat this performance mostly. In the World Cup season 2003/2004 he went only once in the top three and dropped back to sixth place in the overall standings. Over the next three seasons he remained without ever podium and finished third in the overall World Cup standings single-seater to tenth place. At the European Championships in 2004 and 2006 Huttau in Obergurgl, he finished each ranked twelfth in the single-seater. The greatest success in these years he scored in the 2005 World Championships in Laces, where he finished sixth while in the single-seater remained without a medal, but together with his sister Melanie and the doubles pair Reinhard Beer and Herbert Kögl became World Champion in the team competition. At the 2007 World Championships in Grande Prairie, he was 14th in the single-seater.

In the World Cup season 2007/2008 Batkowski reached for the first time in four years, two podiums ( third rank in Laces, Železniki ) and thus the fifth place in the overall World Cup. Highlight of the winter was the 2008 European Championship in Olang, in which he was able to prevail against the favored Italians Anton Blasbichler and Patrick Pigneter and was five years after his world title also European champion in single-seaters. In the World Cup season 2008/2009 Batkowski achieved a third place in Obergurgl and four top-10 results, which he finished in seventh place overall. In January 2009, he was the second time Austrian champion in the single-seater, after he had behind each Gernot Schwab became vice-champion in 2006, 2007 and 2008. At the 2009 World Championships in Moos in Passeier he was ranked 14 and at the European Championships 2010 in St. Sebastian eighth in single-seaters. In the World Cup season 2009/2010 three eighth places were his best results, which he finished tenth in the overall World Cup.

At the beginning of the season 2010/2011 Batkowski achieved two second places and a third place in Novouralsk in Gsies. Although he no longer came to the podium in the second half of the season, he achieved thus second place in the overall World Cup and thus its best overall position since the overall victory eight years ago. At the World Cup 2011 in Obergurgl, he won four hundredths of a second behind his compatriot Gerald Kammerlander the silver medal in the single-seater. In the season 2011/2012 Batkowski reached the podium in any World Cup races. His best result was a fifth place at the finale in Obergurgl, the overall World Cup he finished sixth. At the European Championships 2012 in Novouralsk he finished as the third- best Austrian seventh place in the single-seater.

Achievements

World Championships

  • Olang 2000: 5 seater
  • Stein an der Enns 2001: 13 seater
  • Železniki 2003: 1 seater
  • Laces 2005: 6 seater, 1st team
  • Grande Prairie 2007: 14 seater
  • Moos in Passeier 2009: 13 seater
  • Umhausen 2011: 2 seater

European Championships

  • Szczyrk 1999: 2 seater
  • Frantschach 2002: 2 ​​seater
  • Huttau 2004: 12 seater
  • Umhausen 2006: 12 seater
  • Olang 2008: first single-seater
  • St. Sebastian, 2010: 8 seater
  • Novouralsk 2012: 7 seater

European Junior Championships

  • Saint-Marcel/Fénis 1995: 13 seater
  • Szczyrk 1996: first single-seater
  • Feld am See 1998: 4 seater

Junior World Championships

  • Aosta 1997: 8 seater

World Cup

  • Overall World Cup winner in the single-seater in the season 2002/2003
  • 2nd place in the single-seat World Cup in season 2010/2011

Austrian Championships

  • Austrian champion in single-seaters in 2003 and 2009

Awards (excerpt)

  • 2003: Gold Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria
FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2005 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2011 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 1999 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2002 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2008 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships Melanie Batkowski 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 European Luge Natural Track Championships 2006 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2007 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2009 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2010 Sankt Sebastian, Styria Reinhard Gruber Sonja Steinacher Armin Mair David Mair (natural track luger and skeleton racer) Christian Schatz Renate Gietl Florian Clara Damiano Lugon Manfred Danklmaier Franz Obrist Erhard Mahlknecht Ferdinand Hirzegger
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