Park City (pps) A track record at Altenberg, two third places at the Viessmann Luge World Cup at Altenberg and Calgary and the win in the Krombacher Challenge Cup opener at Altenberg – Tony Benshoof has never been so successful in the past eight years on the US national team as this season. Together with Germany’s Olympic champion Sylke Otto in the women’s event and Austria’s World champions Andreas Linger-Wolfgang Linger in the doubles, the 28-year-old from White Bear, Minnesota, leads the Krombacher Challenge Cup prior to the only event on US soil this winter on the Olympic track at Park City (December 12, 2003, start: 10.00 hrs local time).

Even Tony Benshoof himself can hardly explain why he is so successful this year. He cannot recollect to have changed anything in his preparations compared to the previous years. But it is a fact that Tony Benshoof has suddenly established himself among the world’s top.

„I don’t want to look to much into the future. I would like to continue focussing only on what I’m doing at the moment”, says Tony Benshoof who considers his track record at Altenberg higher than his two second-place finishes in the World Cup. Benshoof: „You don’t set a track record every day. And in addition, this is the first international track record I have achieved in my whole career.”

Because the Olympic silver medallists Mark Grimmette-Brian Martin missed the first three World Cup events, Benshoof took over the role of leader within the US team, not least thanks to his successes. Of course the US team is missing Grimmette and Martin, Tony Benshoof says, but because of their missing the team has become even closer on and off the tracks.