Britcher wins luge sprint
Geisenberger secures overall WC
LILLEHAMMER, Norway, Jan 22, (AP): Summer Britcher dominated Sunday’s sprint to make it two luge World Cup wins in as many days, while Natalie Geisenberger’s third place was enough for her sixth straight overall victory.
Britcher, who claimed her fourth luge World Cup win on Saturday, clocked 29.925 seconds, beating Russia’s Viktoria Demchenko by 0.002 seconds and Geisenberger by 0.023.
Geisenberger’s total of 950 points cannot be overcome with just two races remaining in the season. German teammate and world champion Tatjana Huefner, who was 11th on Sunday, is second on 679, ahead of Britcher on 646.
Peter Penz and Georg Fischler of Austria won the doubles sprint in 29.910, beating Olympic champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany by 0.060, and Matt Mortensen and Jayson Terdiman of the United States by 0.140.
Overall leaders Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken crashed out of the race, allowing compatriots Wendl and Arlt to reduce their lead to 163.
Semen Pavlichenko of Russia won the men’s sprint in 31.943, beating Wolfgang Kindl of Austria by 0.077 and Dominik Fischnaller of Italy by 0.099.
Felix Loch, who finished eighth in the sprint, retained his lead in the overall standings. Ahead of the final two races, the German has 768 points, 45 more than Kindl and 121 more than Pavlichenko.
Earlier Sunday, Fischnaller won his fourth luge World Cup in the men’s competition, more than four years after claiming his first on the same Lillehammer track.
Fischnaller was fastest in the first run and quick enough in the second to win in a combined time of 1:38.590, beating Russia’s Roman Repilov by 0.096.
Fischnaller had back problems treated by the German team doctor on Saturday.
Kindl was third, 0.132 behind, ahead of Germany’s Johannes Ludwig and then Loch, the Olympic champion.