(pps/February 2, 2010) The name of the current World champion is Erin Hamlin. She is 23 years old and an US athlete. The name of the current European champion is Tatiana Ivanova, she is 18 years old and comes from Russia. But when it comes to naming possible favourites for the decision in the women's singles at the XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Germany's women's lugers are saddled with this burden. "We want to earn a medal in all three disciplines, and in the women's singles perhaps even two", said Andreas Trautvetter, President of the German Bobsleigh and Sled Sports Federation, BSD.
And this burden seems to be well-justified: At the 1998, 2002 and 2006 Winter Games Germany's women earned eight of nine possible medals. Only Austria's Angelika Neuner took the bronze medal in Nagano in 1998. Responsible for Germany's success story were Sylke Otto with two gold medals, Silke Kraushaar-Pielach with a complete set of medals and Barbara Niedernhuber with two silver medals. In the meantime, all three have ended their active career. Only Tatjana Huefner, 2006 Olympic bronze medallist, is still competing.
With her two World Championship titles and so far 21 World Cup victories the now 26-year old assumed the role of her successful predecessors quite smoothly. Together with the still 21 year old Natalie Geisenberger (born on February 5, 1988) Huefner achieved to expand Germany's series of World Cup victories to now 98 consecutive wins.
In the Olympic winter season, Huefner managed to win five Cup events (Calgary, Altenberg, Lillehammer, Koenigssee, Oberhof) and never finished lower than on second place. On the other hand, Geisenberger earned three victories (Innsbruck-Igls, Winterberg and Cesana), finished four times as runner-up and once on third place. The "showdown" at the "Whistler Sliding Center" will take place on February 15 (1st run at 17:00 hrs local time/02:00 hrs CET; 2nd run at 18:30 hrs local time/03:30 hrs CET) and one day later on February 16 (3rd run at 13:00 hrs local time/22:00 CET; 4th run at 14:30 hrs local time/23:30 CET).
After her numerous second-place finishes Natalie Geisenberger used to say: "I will save celebrating a victory for a more important race in Canada". And Tatjana Huefner commented: "Whoever knows me, also knows that I want to win every single race". Since the 2007-2008 season Huefner has collected 18 victories in a total of 25 World Cup events.
Well, third place then seems to be earmarked for Anke Wischnewski. Believe or not – prior to her première at the Olympic Games the 32-year old earned 20 third-place finishes in the World Cup series. Four times she finished as runner-up and only once the 2007 World Championship runner-up celebrated a World Cup victory. "My aim is to win an Olympic medal", Anke Wischnewski claims.
