Leitner and Resch lead men, Geisenberger leads women as Germany wins 5 of 6 luge WCup medals

Germans win 5 of 6 men’s and women’s luge medals

IGLS, Austria — Germany’s lugers won five of six World Cup medals up for grabs in women’s singles and men’s doubles races on Saturday.

Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch of Germany won the men’s event, adding to their record total of 34 career World Cup victories.

The 2002 Olympic champions, who also won the season-opening race in Calgary last week, set a track record in their opening run and finished in a combined time of 1 minute, 18.631 seconds.

Earlier Saturday, Natalie Geisenberger led a German sweep in the women’s singles for her fourth career title. The victory marked the 92nd straight victory by the German women in World Cup luge. They last lost a race in November 1997.

World champion Erin Hamlin of the U.S. finished ninth, 0.629 seconds behind Geisenberger.

Andre Florschuetz and Torsten Wustlich of Germany finished second in the men’s doubles, trailing the winners by 0.101 seconds. Austria’s Andreas and Wolfgang Linger took third, 0.106 behind.

Matt Mortensen and Preston Griffall were the top Americans, tied for eighth in 1:19.148

Geisenberger set a track record in her first run and finished in a combined time of 1:19.229.

Tatjana Huefner trailed Geisenberger by 0.053 of a second, while Anke Wischnewski was 0.060 back in third.