Park City (pps) Ahead of their ‘home’ World Cup in Park City this weekend, the United States sliders achieved a showpiece performance: At the fourth stop of the Viessmann Luge World Cup series in Whistler, Canada, the team of Sport Program Director Mark Grimmette showed surprisingly good results. At the venue of the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, Chris Mazdzer claimed a second place finish in the men’s singles, the U.S. squad earned a fourth place result in the Team Relay and Erin Hamlin and Kate Hansen posted fifth and sixth place finishes, respectively. Now, ahead of the World Cup on the 2002 Olympic luge track, the U.S. team hopes to even top it off. Additionally, the upcoming World Cup is the final qualifying event for the U.S. lugers who want to punch a ticket to Russia.

Outstanding luger at the Viessmann Luge World Cup in Whistler was Chris Mazdzer who claimed a second place finish behind Olympic and four-time World Champion Felix Loch of Germany. Mazdzer nearly celebrated the first American success in 16 years. It was on February 15, 1997 that Wendel Suckow won the pre-Olympic test event on the future Olympic luge track in Nagano, Japan. Mazdzer’s second place finish is the best result of U.S. racers in the men’s singles since the 2005-2006 season, when Tony Benshoof achieved four second place results (Sigulda, Altenberg, Lake Placid, Koenigssee). Benshoof, who earned a fourth place at the 2006 Olympic Games, claimed the last podium finish in the men’s singles in Altenberg, Germany, on January 21, 2007 when he finished in third position.

“The German lugers can definitely be defeated,” said Mazdzer. The 25-year-old, in fourth position after the first run, passed Germany’s Andi Langenhan and David Moeller and - with a winning margin of only three thousandths of a second - even held off an attack by Italy’s junior World Champion Dominik Fischnaller. Langenhan and Moeller eventually finished in fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

Similar to Mazdzer, Erin Hamlin (2009 World Champion) and Kate Hansen (2008 junior World Champion), can be looking calmly ahead to the nomination of the U.S. luge team for the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia (February 7-23, 2014) as they achieved the season’s best result in the women’s singles in Whistler. At the last stop of the Viessmann Luge World Cup series in the U.S. state of Utah in the 2010-2011 winter, it was Julia Clukey as the best female U.S. luger who claimed a fifth place result. Clukey, sixth on last year’s overall Viessmann Luge World Cup ranking, is hoping to punch her ticket to the Olympics, her second after the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

The U.S. doubles teams once were the showpiece of USA Luge. The doubles of Chris Thorpe-Gordy Sheer claimed the first medal at Olympic Winter Games for the U.S. federation when they won silver. On that same day Grimmette teamed with Brian Martin for the Olympic bronze. Four years later, in Park City, two more medals were added by Grimmette-Martin (silver) and Chris Thorpe-Clay Ives (bronze). Ahead of the Winter Games in Sochi, the best American doubles team of Mathew Mortensen-Preston Griffall is 10th on the overall Viessmann Luge World Cup rankings.

World Champions Tobias Wendl-Tobias Arlt of Germany, who won three top podium finishes in the past four events, are currently leading the overall World Cup rankings. Natalie Geisenberger (Germany) is still unbeaten in the Olympic Winter and is clearly at the top of the overall rankings. In the men’s singles, Felix Loch of Germany recaptured his top position thanks to his second season victory in Whistler.