Germans win 6 medals, USA 5 at Lake Placid luge World Cup
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. >> Tucker West and Emily Sweeney both capped double-medal weekends for USA Luge on Sunday, the final day of the World Cup stop on the Americans’ home track at Mount Van Hoevenberg.
West won silver medals on Sunday in both the men’s race and men’s sprint. Sweeney added a bronze in the women’s sprint on Sunday to her women’s silver from Saturday, and Summer Britcher won a silver in the women’s sprint for the U.S.
Germany won six medals over the weekend, followed by the U.S. with five and Austria with three.
It was a long-awaited bounce-back day for West, who won only one medal — other than in team relay events — in the past two World Cup seasons.
“Today we had track record ice,” West said. “It was bullet-proof hard. You really had to lay it all out, but it seemed to work out. It feels great to be back. It’s been a little bit of a hiatus with speed, so it’s encouraging to see the speed again.”
Julia Taubitz led the Germans with two golds — winning the women’s sprint on Sunday, after prevailing
Emily Sweeney, of the United States, celebrates her second-place finish after completing her second run of a women’s World Cup luge event in Lake Placid, N.Y., on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019. in the women’s regular race Saturday. Taubitz was the lone non-American in the top four of the women’s sprint, with Britcher second, Sweeney third and Ashley Farquharson fourth with by far her best World Cup finish.
Russia’s Roman Repilov won the men’s sprint, his fourth career gold at Mount Van Hoevenberg, while Lativan brothers Andris Sics and Juris Sics won the doubles sprint gold earlier Sunday.
That was Latvia’s first gold on this track at Mount Van Hoevenberg, which has hosted a total of 60 different international luge events.
Also Sunday, Austria’s Jonas Mueller won his second consecutive World Cup men’s luge race of the season, narrowly holding off West for the gold. Mueller went on later in the day to win bronze in the men’s sprint, edging Olympic silver medalist Chris Mazdzer of the U.S. for the final medal spot in that event.
Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller won the men’s bronze. West was the leader after one run of that race, setting a track record. But Mueller rallied in the second heat, thwarting West’s bid for what would have been his fourth career World Cup gold.
Also for the U.S., Mazdzer was 10th in that race and Jonny Gustafson was 15th.
The five medals this weekend for the Americans give them 30 in international luge events on this track at Mount Van Hoevenberg, moving the U.S. past Italy for second in the alltime standings. Germany is far and away the leader, now with 68 medals on Lake Placid’s 20-year-old track.