“Both my runs were pretty solid, I couldn’t ask for anything better, I’m pretty happy with it,” noted Hamlin, who covered her two runs down the 1976 Olympic luge course in one minute 20.129 seconds.  “Training went really well all week, and we had that additional time in the fall and I think that helped a lot. I’m young, but I’ve been on the race circuit for a little while and this wasn’t my first huge race of my career, so I wasn’t that nervous.”

While the 20-year-old Hamlin was participating in her second-career world championship race, Clukey was sliding in her first.  “I really didn’t have any expectations coming into this race, I just wanted to have two solid runs,” said Clukey, who finished in 1:20.475.  “Eighth place is a good finish for me at my first world championships and it feels good to be the second top U.S. slider here… it’s time to move forward and continue to improve.”

Hayden, who was sliding in her sixth-career Worlds’ race posted a ninth place result and a combined time of 1:20.504, while fellow American Courtney Zablocki (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) was 11th, in 1:20.572.

Tatjana Huefner won Sunday’s race and extended Germany’s world championship winning streak to 10 races.  The 2006 Olympic bronze medalist slid past the 36-sled field in a combined time of 1:19.808.  Fellow Germans Anke Wischnewski and Silke Kraushaar-Pielach raced to second and third place results, allowing Germany to claim its seventh consecutive podium sweep. Wischnewski clocked a total time of 1:19.948, while Kraushaar-Pielach scored a bronze medal finish 1:19.980. 

German Natalie Geisenberger was fourth after completing her two runs in a time of 1:20.092.