Canadian Duo Slide into 11th Place at Luge World Cup
-German women sweep top four spots, Lauscher slides into 13th
The Canadian duo, who have been struggling to jump back into the top-10 standings in World Cup competition, finished off the day in 11th place after posting a two-run combined time of one minute 20.193.
"For the most part we slid pretty well today, but our times did not reflect it," said Pothier of Airdrie Alta., who along with partner Albrecht, of Red Deer, Alta., have been working on their sled for most of the season to make it faster. "Again, it was a disappointing finish, but we've learned a little bit about what other athletes are doing to their sleds to increase speed. I think we now have a better idea of what we're going to do to our sled to hopefully cut our time on the track."
Germany's Patrick Leitner and Alexander Resch slid to their second consecutive World Cup victory in men's doubles action. The German duo posted a two-run time of 1:19:447. Teammates Andre Florshütz and Torsten Wustlich, who are currently sitting on top of the World Cup standings, took home the silver medal with a time of 1:19:469. Italy's Christian Oberstolz and Patric Gruber rounded out the top-three at 1:19:531.
Meanwhile, in the women's draw, Canada's Regan Lauscher struggled to maintain her momentum from her bronze medal win at Friday's Challenge Cup in Igls, posting a disappointing 13th place result on Sunday. The 24-year-old luge veteran, who is currently ranked eighth in World Cup standings, finished the day with a combined time of 1:20:663.
"It was a hard day today because I was really expecting to have two solid runs," said the Red Deer, Alta. native. "I feel numb because this is not the way I had expected it to go at all. We fight for fractions of a second and any small error on the track will set you far back in the standings."
The German women grabbed the top four spots today with Sylke Otto leading her teammates with her first World Cup victory of the season. Otto slid into the top spot to take the gold medal with a combined time of 1:19:546. Barbara Niedernhuber, who is currently ranked first in overall World Cup standings, slid into second place to take the silver medal at 1:19.841, while teammate Silke Kraushaar rounded out third with 1:19:990.
Calgary's Madison Dupuis was the only other Canadian slider in today's race. She finished off the day in 20th place after posting a combined time of 1:21.288.
The Viessmann Luge World Cup will continue January 21-23, in Winterberg, Germany.
The Canadian Luge Associaton is the governing body for luge racing in Canada. In partnership with CODA, the Canadian Luge Association operates the Olympic Luge Training Centre at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, which develops our nation's high-performance luge athletes and promotes the sport across the country. For more information on the Canadian Luge Association, please visit us at www.luge.ca on the Internet.
COMPLETE TEAM RESULTS: www.fil-luge.org
Men's Top-Five Results (16 sleds):
1. Leitner/Resch, GER, 1:19:447; 2. Florschütz/Wustlich, GER, 1:19:469; 3. Oberstolz/Gruber, ITA, 1:19:531; 4. Linger/Linger, AUT, 1:19:575; 5. Plankensteiner/Haselrieder, ITA, 1:19:689.
Canadian Results (16 sleds):
11. Grant Albrecht, Red Deer, Alta., and Eric Pothier, Airdrie, Alta., CAN, 1:20:193
Women's Top-Five Results (23 sleds):
1. Sylke Otto, GER, 1:19:546; 2. Barbara Niedernhuber, GER, 1:19:841; 3. Silke Kraushaar, GER, 1:19:990; 4. Anke Wischnewski, GER, 1:20:167; 5. Sonja Manzenreiter, AUT, 1:20:340.
Canadian Results (23 sleds):
13. Regan Lauscher, Red Deer, Alta., CAN, 1:20:663; 20. Madison Dupuis, Calgary, CAN, 1:21:288.