Tucker West promotes his home race in Park City

Tucker West Whistler

Park City (RWH) Tucker West did his best to promote his home race by taking two consecutive victories, while the USA’s female lugers are set to take center stage at this weekend’s event. NBC, one of America’s top broadcasters, will show the women’s race in the Viessmann World Cup in Park City, Utah, live across the nation on Saturday December 17. It will be the first live network television broadcast of a luge race in the USA during a non-Olympic winter.

It is all down to the success enjoyed by the US women last season when they achieved a clean sweep of the podium places in Lake Placid, NY. Summer Britcher went on to claim two wins in the Viessmann World Cup on the 2002 Olympic track in Park City. While the US women are still waiting for their first win of this pre-Olympic season, their compatriot Tucker West is creating a stir in the men’s event.

The 21-year-old went from zero to hero within the space of a few days. It all began with his disqualification in the season opener in Winterberg, with West also missing out on qualifying for the BMW Sprint. He followed this up with a home win in Lake Placid before going on to land victory again in Whistler, Canada. Suddenly, the current U23 World Champion is a potential medal candidate for the 47th FIL World Championships in Innsbruck (AUT) in late January. West has been victorious at the Olympic ice track in Tyrol before, when he took gold with the US relay team at the inaugural 2012 Youth Olympic Winter Games (YOG).

Ahead of the fourth round of the race series, the German Olympic Champions Natalie Geisenberger (Sochi 2014) and her predecessor Tatjana Hüfner (Vancouver 2010) are tied at the top of the standings. Despite finishing sixth in the last two races, Olympic and World Champion Felix Loch (GER) still retains the yellow jersey as the leader of the overall classification. His compatriots Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken continue to set the benchmark in the doubles.

The second BMW Sprint World Cup of the season will also be staged in Park City, after Dajana Eitberger, Felix Loch and Eggert/Benecken clinched victory in the first event in Winterberg. In the New Year, the BMW Sprint World Cup will be run in Sigulda, Latvia (January 14-15, 2017), before moving on to the World Championships in Innsbruck (January 25, 2017).