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USA Luge Takes World Cup Team Relay Bronze
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KOENIGSSEE, Germany --- The doubles team of Christian Niccum (Woodinville, Wash.) and Dan Joye (Carmel, N.Y.) and singles sliders Julia Clukey (Augusta, Maine) and Tony Benshoof (White Bear Lake, Minn.) combined to lift USA Luge to a bronze medal during Sunday's, Jan. 6, luge World Cup team relay race in Koenigssee, Germany.

The relay race begins when the first slider breaks the timing eye at the top of the course. At the end of the first run, the slider strikes a touch pad which releases the start gate for the second slider, who also strikes the touch pad to release the final sled. Once the third and final sled crosses the finish line and strikes the touch pad, a final combined, three-sled time is recorded.

Niccum and Joye started the clock for Team USA and slid to a single run time of 51.550 seconds, before reaching up to strike the pad to release Clukey, who posted a single heat time of 54.909. Benshoof secured USA Luge the bronze medal when he clocked a one-run time of 54.260, giving the three-sled squad a combined time of two minutes, 40.719 seconds.

Team Germany, which featured a roster Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch, Silke Kraushaar-Pielach and David Moeller, claimed its first relay victory of the season when the trio combined to race to a total time of 2:39.395, while Team Canada grabbed the silver medal. The line-up of Chris Moffat and Mike Moffat, Regan Lauscher and Jeff Christie posted a three-run total time of 2:40.304.

The win pushed Germany into first-place in the relay race standings, with 255 points, while Team USA sits in second-place, with 225 points. Team Canada and Team Austria each have 185 points and are tied for third.

Russia's Albert Demtschenko slid through the scattered rain showers came away with Sunday's men's singles win. The 2006 Olympic silver medalist posted a two-run time of 1:34.754, a slim nine-thousandths of a second in front of Italy's Armin Zoeggeler, who slid to silver in a time of 1:34.763.

Moeller won the bronze medal, in a combined time of 1:34.800, but fell into a first-place tie with Zoeggeler in the overall series points chase, with 440 points.

Benshoof was 16th, in 1:35.642, while his teammate, Bengt Walden (Westborough, Mass.), finished 19th. Walden clocked his two runs on the world's oldest Olympic style course in 1:35.768.



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