Germany’s Geisenberger back atop luge podium in Calgary, Canada’s McRae fifth

CALGARY – Natalie Geisenberger of Germany returned to the top of the podium in women’s World Cup luge Friday while American women continued their surprising start to the season.

Geisenberger is the reigning world, Olympic and overall World Cup champion, but her win at Calgary’s Canada Olympic Park was her first in four races this season.

Erin Hamlin and Summer Britcher of the U.S. were second and third respectively. Canada’s Kim McRae finished fifth and teammate Alex Gough sixth.

Geisenberger clapped her hand on her head and whooped for joy when Hamlin crossed the line .012 seconds slower than her. Britcher, the winner last week in Park City, Utah, was third .143 behind the German.

“The last race before Christmas, I was very motivated,” Geisenberger said. “To win the race today, it is for my head and motivation good.

“I like Calgary. It’s not a really difficult track, but it’s difficult to be fast. Everybody on the U.S. team is sliding good at the moment and that’s surprising for me, but it’s cool for the sport.”

Hamlin, who won the second World Cup race of the season in Lake Placid, N.Y., led the overall World Cup standings six points up on Britcher in second and 36 ahead of Geisenberger third.

Hamlin became the first North American woman to win an Olympic luge medal when she finished third ahead of Gough in fourth and McRae fifth in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.

McRae was third after the opening run with a Canadian women’s track record of 46.836 seconds, but the 23-year-old from Victoria made a mistake coming out of the circular kreisel on her second pass.

“It’s my best result all season so I’m happy,” McRae said. “I’m slightly bummed I didn’t get a medal. I was there and I know I can be there, so I’m going to push for that in the second half of the season and continually build.”

Gough, Canada’s most decorated luger with 21 career World Cup medals, was fourth heading into her second run in which she was in trouble early.

“I made a mistake at the start corner and it really wasn’t clean,” Gough explained. “I knew coming out of corner one I had a lot of work to do and time to gain and there was not a good chance I would be able to do it.

“It’s frustrating because it’s the second week in a row that I’ve made mistakes that I really shouldn’t have made.”

Gough was second after her first run in Park City, but finished sixth. The 28-year-old was writing university exams in civil engineering while preparing to race in Calgary this week.

“With school and everything, it’s tough but I think it’s good,” Gough said. “I think in the end I will grow from it and I will be better for it.”

Russia’s Tatyana Ivanova set a track record of 46.525 seconds on her second run to finish fourth. Calgary’ Arianne Jones placed 13th.

In doubles, Germany’s Toni Eggert and Sasha Benecken picked up their third win in four races to stay atop the overall World Cup standings.

They posted a two-run time of one minute 28.223 seconds. Austrians Peter Penz and Georg Fischler were second .104 seconds behind and reigning Olympic champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany were third .357 back of the leaders.

Calgary’s Tristan Walker and Justin Snith finished fifth. The Canadians were eighth after their opening run.

“The second run we relaxed a little bit more, cleaned everything up and that’s where we found most of our time,” Snith said.

Added Walker: “Maybe with two runs like our second run we could have been on the podium, but we’ll have to do that another race now.”

Matt Riddle and Adam Shippit of Whistler, B.C., crashed on their second run in their World Cup debut. Riddle, 17, and Shippit, 16, had been a doubles team for only a month heading into the race.

“We definitely take out good experience from the race and get to see how it’s done by all the guys who have been doing it for years and years,” Shippit said.

The Viessman Luge World Cup in Calgary concludes Saturday with men’s singles and men’s, women’s and doubles sprint races.