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Fourth place finishes highlight for luge
By Jon Lundin // USA Luge // February 23, 2006
CESANA PARIOL, Italy ---- American’s Courtney Zablocki (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) and Tony Benshoof (White Bear Lake, Minn.) each slid to fourth place finishes during the XX Olympic Winter Games luge competitions held high in the Italian Alps of Cesana Pariol, Italy. Zablocki’s finish was the best-ever U.S. women’s singles result since luge was introduced as an Olympic sport in 1964 in Innsbruck, Austria, while Benshoof matched Adam Heidt’s fourth place result from four years ago in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“I thought that I had four awesome runs, I was happy with what I did,” said the 24-year-old Zablocki after her fourth and final run down the 1,435-meter long track. “I really convinced myself that I could finish up there. Fourth -- even though it’s an awesome finish, the truth is I’m a little disappointed, but I’m also happy at the same time.”
En route to the fourth place result, Zablocki finished behind three German sliders. Sylke Otto successfully defended her gold medal from 2002, while Silke Kraushaar slid to silver. Tatjana Huefner, who made her Olympic debut, won bronze.
Entering the race, U.S. sliders had achieved a pair of fifth place finishes in the women’s Olympic singles event, from Cameron Myler in 1992 and Becky Wilczak in 2002. “It’s exciting to know that I have the best Olympic finish, ahead of so many great U.S. sliders, like Cammy and Becky,” noted Zablocki. “My goal now is to become the first singles slider to win an Olympic medal for the United States and that will be my focus over the next four years.”
Italy’s Armin Zoeggeler became the first men’s singles slider to ever defend his Olympic title on his home course, while Benshoof, a Salt Lake City Olympian, missed, by just a little more than a tenth of a second, becoming the first-ever U.S. singles slider to capture an Olympic podium.
“I thought that after my fourth run I would pull it off. I didn’t think that Martins (Rubenis) would hold on under the pressure, but he did, and I have to give him credit," Benshoof told the group of reporters after the race. “My third run is what cost me the race. Two things happened, my start was slow and curve-14 was a little rough, which probably cost me a tenth of a second, and in the end, it was the difference.”
Not only did Rubenis of Latvia, handle the pressure, but so did Russia’s Albert Demtschenko. Both sliders needed to jump over Benshoof to secure their podium finishes, Rubenis bronze and Demtschenko silver. “Am I disappointed… sure I’m disappointed, I certainly had hopes of coming away with an Olympic medal,” remarked Benshoof, who also became USA Luge’s leader in international medals won this season. “It hurts being fourth, but I have to remind myself that I’m the fourth best slider in the world and I’m extremely proud to say that. I plan on being back for Vancouver (Canada)”
In the doubles event, Preston Griffall (Salt Lake City, Utah) and Dan Joye (Carmel, N.Y.) finished eighth. The Olympic rookies rebounded from an 11th-place opening run time with the fourth fastest run of the second heat.
“We were not happy at all after that first run and we knew that we needed to bounce back during the second,” stated Joye. “We were able to do that and we closed out the Olympics in the right way.”
Austria’s Andreas Linger and Wolfgang Linger took gold, while Germany’s Andre Florschuetz and Torsten Wustlich won silver. In front of their home crowd, Gerhard Plankensteiner and Oswald Haselrieder won Italy’s second Olympic luge medal, bronze.
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