Lake Placid (pps) USA Luge Association awarded 2004 Athletes of the Year to Ashley Hayden, Tony Benshoof and Mark Grimmette/Brian Martin. All four won the silver medal at the 37th World Championships in the team competition at Nagano (Japan).
Hayden captured her first-career USA Luge Female Athlete of the Year honor after completing last season’s eight-race women’s singles World Cup tour ranked a career-best eighth overall. The 22-year-old and 2002 Olympian also slid to a career-high sixth-place finish at the season-ending world championships. Tony Benshoof raced to a combined eight World Cup, Challenge Cup and world championship medals in 2003-04, while finishing fourth in both the final overall men’s singles World Cup and Challenge cup rankings. Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin scored their seventh-career Team of the Year honor together. Grimmette and Martin also raced to a bronze medal finish in the world championship doubles.