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WFG Sponsored USA Luge Wins Second Consecutive Bronze in Team Relay Event

For Immediate Release December 14, 2008

[WINTERBERG, Germany] — For the second time in as many weeks, the World Financial Group (WFG) sponsored United States won bronze in the Team Relay event. Singles sliders Bengt Walden (Westborough, Mass. and Lake Placid, N.Y) and Ashley Walden (Westborough, Mass. and Lake Placid, N.Y) combined with the doubles team of Christian Niccum (Woodinville, Wash.) and Dan Joye (Carmel, N.Y) to finish in third place.

The U.S. squad was sitting in second place until Austrians Schiegl and Schiegl had a start/reaction time of 1.708, almost two tenths of a second faster than any other team. That margin was enough to secure the silver for the Austrians.

"The Austrians just blew everyone away with their reaction time," 2006 Olympian and reigning national doubles champion Dan Joye said. "If we were able to leave a moment sooner…a blink of an eye sooner... it could have been possible to win silver medal." Audio of Dan Joye here.

The German team of David Möller, Tatjana Hüfner and Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch won the race with a combined time of two minutes, 26.429 seconds. The Austrian team of Nina Reithmayer, Daniel Pfister, along with the three-time world champion doubles team of Tobias Schiegl and Markus Schiegl were .277 seconds back, in second place. The Americans stopped the clock in 2:27.089, to take the bronze.

In the Team Relay event, each nation enters one male, one female and one doubles team in the race, but with one major difference – sliders two and three can only begin their run once a gate in front of them drops. The gate drops when the previous slider punches a touch-pad hung over the track when crossing the finish line. The clock starts when the first athlete begins the run and doesn't stop until the third sled hits the touch-pad.

In the women's event, Erin Hamlin (Remsen, N.Y.) recorded her second top-10 finish this season. Hamlin raced to a combined time of 1:53.375, giving her an eighth place finish. Ashley Walden's time of 1:53.857 was good for a 12th place finish; Julia Clukey (Augusta, Maine) finished 15th, while recent call-up Courtney Zablocki (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) finished 18th.

The German women continued their dominance, sweeping the podium. Natalie Geisenberger earned gold in 1:52.633. Teammate Tatjana Hüfner won silver and Anke Wischnewski, bronze. In overall World Cup standings, Hüfner leads with 285 points; Geisenberger is second and is Wischnewski third. Hamlin is now sixth, with Walden in 10th; Clukey in 14th and Zablocki in 25th.

See this and all luge races this season at www.universalsports.com

For more information on the Fastest Sport on Ice®, log on to www.usaluge.org.

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