Individual titles to Emily Sweeney and Dominik Fischnaller Park City (pps) U.S. luger Emily Sweeney and Dominik Fischnaller of Italy are the new junior luge World Champions. The two 19-year old athletes earned the gold medals in the women’s and men’s singles at the 28th Junior World Championships of the International Luge Federation (FIL) in Park City in the U.S. state of Utah. On the 2002 Olympic track Sweeney, who recently earned a 10th-place finish at the Viessmann Luge World Cup in Altenberg, managed to relegate Caroline von Schleinitz and Nathalie Burkhardt (both of Germany) to second and third place, respectively. Right behind Fischnaller, who surprisingly claimed a third place at the Viessmann Luge World Cup in Koenigssee, his teammate Emanuel Rieder took the silver medal. Bronze went to Austria’s David Gleirscher whose father Gerhard won bronze at the 1997 World Championships in Innsbruck-Igls. By the way, 16-year old Caroline von Schleinitz is the sister of three-time junior World Champion Julian von Schleinitz. The Junior World Championships in Park City will conclude with the doubles and Team Relay event. All races can be followed live on the website of the U.S. Luge Association (USLA) at http://www.USALuge.org. Apart from training videos the site also offers results, online chats and much more information on the junior Worlds.
Dominik Fischnaller
Sweeney Emily Usa Kb 2009 03