Italy's Kevin Fischnaller gets 1st World Cup luge win

By AP
Published

WINTERBERG, Germany (AP) Italy's Kevin Fischnaller won a World Cup luge race for the first time Saturday after holding off Germany's Felix Loch.

Fischnaller had the fastest time in the first run and prevailed despite being only 14th-best in the second run. Loch rallied from 10th place after one run for the silver and Russia's Stepan Federov won the bronze.

It was the 18th time out of the last 20 World Cup races in Winterberg that either an Italian or German slider won men's gold. Fischnaller's only other previous World Cup medal was in a sprint race in Igls, Austria in November 2014.

Tucker West was the top American with a 10th-place finish.

''The conditions today were pretty typical for Winterberg,'' West said. ''We had a misty rain for the first few sleds of the first run, which then turned into a snow that continued until the end of the race. The track seemed to slow down quite a bit on the first run, but then held fairly steady for the second run.''

In doubles, Germany swept the medals on home ice. Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken got their second win in as many starts this season, their 26th World Cup gold medal overall. Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt were second, and Robin Johannes Geueke and David Gamm took third.

That order of finish was the same as the one in the World Cup race last season in the Olympic test event at Pyeongchang.

The women's race is Sunday in Winterberg, followed by sprint races in men's, women's and doubles.