ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — Selina Egle and Lara Kipp of Austria won their fourth consecutive World Cup luge women’s doubles race, while the US team of Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirkby earned their fourth medal in five races this season.
Francesco Friedrich got the 85th World Cup bobsled victory of his career, dominating the second heat to win a four-man race.
Friedrich and his team of Matthias Sommer, Alexander Schuller and Felix Straub were one of four sleds all within 0.01 seconds of the lead after the first heat. But Friedrich had the fastest time in the second heat by about a quarter of a second, good enough for yet another win.
The German sled piloted by Johannes Lochner was second, and the British sled piloted by Brad Hall was third. The US sled driven by Frank del Duca was 16th.
Egle and Kipp had the fastest time in both runs, easily topping the German sled of Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal. Forgan and Kirkby were third.
In men’s doubles, Martins Bots and Roberts Plume of Latvia got their second win of the season, with the German team of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt second and the Austrian sled of Yannick Mueller and Armin Frauscher placing third.
The top US men´s doubles sled was Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa, who placed sixth, AP reported.
In men’s singles luge, Germany got gold and silver – Max Langenhan winning and Felix Loch placing second. Dominik Fischnaller of Italy was third, and the top American was Jonny Gustafson in 13th.
At St. Moritz, Switzerland, Germany went gold-gold-bronze to sweep the podium slots in a two-man World Cup race.
No other sled in the field was within a second of the winning times. Frank del Duca and Carsten Vissering were eighth for the US.
Austria’s Janine Flock, meanwhile, got her first World Cup skeleton victory in more than three years, making her the sixth different woman to win in as many races on the circuit so far this season.
Flock’s win at Winterberg in Germany was her first World Cup victory in a span of 21 races since prevailing on Dec. 31, 2021, at Sigulda, Latvia.
Anna Fernstaedt of the Czech Republic tied her World Cup career best by finishing second, while Hannah Neise of Germany was third.
Neise — who doesn’t have a win this season — is the World Cup points leader with 1,188, only 23 points ahead of Flock.
Brighton, Ont.’s Hallie Clarke, the youngest-ever women’s skeleton world champion at 19, finished eighth in Winterberg — less than a year after winning the World Cup race at the same venue.
Jane Channell of North Vancouver, B.C., was 15th.
In the men’s race, Britain’s Matt Weston won on Friday and took over the World Cup series points lead from teammate Marcus Wyatt, 1,255-1,197. Wyatt was eighth on Friday.
Samuel Meier of Austria was second and Germany’s Christopher Grotheer was third. Nicholas Tucker of the U.S. was a team-best 14th in his World Cup debut.
The Americans were fourth in the mixed team skeleton event, with Sara Roderick and Daniel Barefoot just missing a medal. Dan Zhao and Quiwei Lin of China won, with Flock and Maier second for Austria and another Chinese sled — Li Yuxi and Yin Zheng — placing third.
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