Krasnaya Polyana, Russia - February 8, 2016 - The USA Luge relay team finished fourth Sunday, just 0.02 of a second from the podium, as the World Cup program in Sochi came to an end in sunny and cool conditions. The result elevated the United States to second in the overall team relay standings.
In the morning event, Tucker West placed eighth and Chris Mazdzer 11th in the singles race that was won by German Felix Loch. After a slow December, it was Loch’s eighth straight win, including last week’s two individual world titles.
“I felt as if our (team relay) runs today were pretty good,” said West, a 2014 Olympian. “Unfortunately, the times weren't quite where we wanted them to be, but that's how racing goes.
“We learned some valuable information regarding our individual sliding, and our sled setups this week, so hopefully we can apply these lessons to the final two World Cups coming up. Russia really showed their strength at their home track this week, which was good to see.”
In all the home team collected four World Cup podium results over the weekend.
Russia scored a gold medal in the Viessmann Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW, but Germany created some anxious moments for the hosts as they stood in the leader’s box.
Germany’s final sled, the doubles team of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, started their run with a deficit in excess of 0.6 of a second. But the duo ate into the margin at each split time, and had the track been just a few meters longer, would have overtaken the eventual winners. They fell 0.005 of a second short.
It was one of the very few defeats handed to Germany since the team relay entered the World Cup in 2007. Two of them have come this season as USA Luge won gold in the event two months ago in Lake Placid.
Russia’s singles sliders Tatiana Ivanova, who was Saturday’s singles winner, and 2015 World Champion Semen Pavlichenko, teamed with doubles athletes Andrey Bogdanov and Andrey Medvedev, the silver medalists 24 hours earlier. The group totaled 2 minutes, 50.392 seconds.
Natalie Geisenberger, Loch and their doubles team, the same quartet that slid to 2014 Sochi Olympic gold, settled for second in 2:50.397.
Austria was third in 2:51.775. The Americans, with Erin Hamlin, West and the doubles unit of Matt Mortensen and Jayson Terdiman were next in 2:51.801.
The latter sled rebounded nicely from Saturday’s event that saw them race to the opening run lead, and then crash with the finish of the final heat and their first podium in site.
“We proved to ourselves (today) that it was kind of a freak event that happened yesterday,” said Sochi Olympian and front driver Mortensen, of Huntington Station, N.Y. “That was our first crash in a year and a half, so that really frustrated me. The run today was nice to have. It was good for the confidence. It was good for the two of us to end our time here in Sochi on a good run.”
“I tried to focus on the really positive things that came out of yesterday, which was that Matt and I sat in first place in a World Cup for the first time in both of our careers,” said Terdiman, the back driver from Berwick, Pa., also a Sochi Olympian.
“I think that really solidifies us as one of the really good teams that are out on tour right now. We’ve been consistent all year with our race runs. Each race we’ve been able to go a little bit faster in our second run, and we were on pace to have a great run again when we had our little issue in curve 17. As disappointing as that was, there were many good things that came out of it, including the fact that we were able to mentally handle sitting at the start being the last sled up there and not letting that get to us.”
Hamlin led the crew with the opening leg of the three sleds and was second fastest among the women behind only Ivanova.
“My run in the team relay was pretty good,” said Hamlin, of Remsen, N.Y., who won the 2014 Olympic bronze medal on this course. “I was a little late into (curve) 15 that I thought was going to be a disaster but actually worked out okay.”
West had the fastest reaction time among the men when the gate opened, and Mortensen and Terdiman recorded the second fastest doubles reaction time.
The course worked its way in and out of sunlight in the team relay, perhaps affecting the speed of the later starting teams. The Russians were among the early teams in the lineup.
“I’m not really sure what the issues were as far as finding more speed as a whole,” continued Hamlin. “The track felt good and pretty consistent. It was very sunny today so maybe there were some softer spots on the track from that.”
Germany is atop the overall World Cup standings with 331 points to the USA’s 270. Latvia, which actually led the series when the day started, did not finish Sunday’s race after the opening run crash of Eliza Cauce. They are now third with 255. Two more team relays remain on the schedule before the season-long medals are decided.
Since a season opening disqualification and then hitting a wall a week later in Lake Placid, Loch has returned to his perch atop the world order of luge with 30 career wins. Strong starts and fast runs, despite the uphill sections, once again produced a decisive victory on the long, 17 turn Olympic course at the Sanki Sliding Center.
The two-time Olympic champion and six-time individual world champion was timed in 51.950 and 52.017 for a combined 1:43.967. Wolfgang Kindl of Austria was a distant second in 1:44.399, with Dominick Fischnaller of Italy, the Lillehammer World Cup gold medalist, in third place in 1:44.431.
West, from Ridgefield, Conn., had the two best start times in the field and posted 1:44.815. A two-time Olympian from Saranac Lake, N.Y., Mazdzer was clocked in 1:45.019. His chances to contend essentially ended with a hit coming out of curve 15 in the first leg.
Loch’s tour-leading point total is 790, courtesy of six wins and two bronze medals. Kindl is second with 685, thanks to a total of seven World Cup medals this winter, six of them in a row to begin the season. Mazdzer is third with 545 points, helped by two victories and a silver medal. West is seventh at 469, highlighted by World Cup silver and bronze medals.
World Cup racing resumes in Germany for the final two weekends of the season February 13-14 (Altenberg) and February 20-21 (Winterberg). Live streaming will be available via fil-luge.org.
NBC Sports Network’s coverage of the 2016 World Championships will be seen Thursday night, February 11, from 6:30 – 8:30 ET. Check your local listings.
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