Winterberg (pps) Sylke Otto of Germany, Tony Benshoof of the USA and Austria’s World champions Andreas Linger-Wolfgang Linger will travel to the Krombacher Challenge Cup at Winterberg, Germany, as the overall leaders. The third event of the k.o. race is scheduled for Friday, January 16, at 9:30 hrs CET. The final will be shown live on the public German TV channel, ZDF, at 12:15-13:00 hrs CET.

Tony Benshoof surprisingly won the first two events at Altenberg and Park City. Olympic champion Sylke Otto gained her lead by winning at Altenberg and finishing third at Park City. The Austrian doubles also won at Altenberg and were fourth at Park City.

Tony Benshoof, who achieved the fourth US title in his career at the beginning of the new year at Lake Placid, made history in US luge at the Krombacher Challenge Cup on the 2002 Olympic track at Park City, when the 28-year-old from White Bear Lake in Minnesota became the first American to win a race in the United States. By finish-ing third in three and fourth in one Viessmann Luge World Cup events Benshoof, who only managed 17th place at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, established himself among the world’s top this winter.

While Benshoof (200 points) has a comfortable lead of 45 points against Italy’s newly crowned European champion Armin Zoeggeler (155), the situation is much more exciting in the women’s and doubles’ events. Sylke Otto (170) is just 15 points ahead of her great German rival and successor as European champion, Silke Kraushaar (155). The European bronze medallists Linger-Linger (160) have two doubles hard on their heels: Germany’s Andre Florschuetz-Torsten Wustlich and Italy’s Gerhard Plankensteiner-Oswald Haselrieder who are in joint second position with just 5 points behind the Austrians.

The leaders in the Krombacher Challenge Cup

Women
Sylke Otto (GER) 170 points
Silke Kraushaar (GER) 155 points
Sonja Manzenreiter (AUT) 110 points
Barbara Niedernhuber (GER) 85 points

Men
Tony Benshoof (USA) 200 points
Armin Zöggeler (ITA) 155 points
Markus Kleinheinz (AUT) 131 points
Georg Hackl (GER) 106 points

Doubles
Linger/Linger (AUT) 160 points
Florschuetz/Wustlich (GER) 155 points
Plankensteiner/Haselrieder (ITA) 155 points
Leitner/Resch (GER) 136 points