Sigulda (pps) World bronze medalist Natalie Geisenberger of Germany fended off the first match point of Olympic and World Champion Tatjana Huefner. At the Viessmann Luge World Cup in Sigulda, Latvia, the eighth of nine stops on the World Cup series, the Olympic bronze medalist celebrated her season's third victory and thus prevented Huefner from prematurely winning the overall luge World Cup title. Prior to the season's final next weekend in Paramonovo, Russia, on February 25-26, 2012, Huefner still holds the top spot on the overall rankings with a lead of 26 points. Due to a botched first run, Huefner eventually finished 10th in Sigulda.
Geisenberger claimed her career's 10th victory in the Viessmann Luge World Cup in the Baltic state, defeating compatriot Anke Wischnewski (0.143 seconds behind) as well as the 2009 World Champion Erin Hamlin (USA / 0.283 seconds behind) to second and third place, respectively. Latvia's Eliza Tiruma finished in fourth position, her career best result.
Huefner holds the top spot In the overall World Cup rankings with 676 points to her credit, ahead of teammates Geisenberger (650) and Wischnewski (535).
Quotes
Natalie Geisenberger
(GER / 2010 Olympic bronze medalist; 2012 World bronze medalist and three-time World runner-up)
"We made a change on the sled, a decisive change. And that paid off. It's quite comforting with the 2015 World Championships in Sigulda in mind. As far as I can see, I don't have such a big chance to win the overall World Cup because the gap is simply too large. I'll rather concentrate on the upcoming European Championship."
Erin Hamlin
(USA / 2009 World Champion)
It's a long time since I had a good result. And it's good for me. But I never reckoned I would be able to achieve it in Sigulda."
