Park City (pps) During heavy snowfall, three-time Olympic Champion and 2002 silver medalist, Georg Hackl from Germany, has won the first race of the Viessmann Luge World Cup in Park City. Hackl, only 4th after the first run, succeded with a total time of 1:32,428 minutes, followed by Austria`s Markus Kleinheinz (1:32,434) and Russia`s Albert Demtschenko (1:32,447). Due to the snowfall, Olympic Champion Armin Zöggeler, in the lead after the first run, only finished on rank eight.

Quotes:

Georg Hackl (Three-time Olympic Champion): „That ist cool. But to be honest: there was also a lot of luck involved. Due to the snowfall, this race was not really regular. I´m more happy about the 4th rank in the first run with fair conditions for evenryone.“

Markus Kleinheinz (Austria): „This ist a good result for me and my team. After the retirement of Markus Prock and Angelika Neuner we realized a new beginning.

Albert Demtschenko (Silver medallist at 1996 European Championships, Russia): „I´m very happy with this result. It is a big surprise for me.”

Armin Zöggeler (Olympic Champion): „I`m not sad about this result. I would have been more angry, if I lost the race in february. Some people have to think about the conditions - not me.”

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