Russian luger Repilov repeats as men's champion at Lake Placid
Posts fastest time in both heats of World Cup event
The German doubles team of Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken walked off the track at Mount Van Hoevenberg as World Cup race winners, again.
Russia's Roman Repilov won the men's race, again.
And the day's biggest cheers went to Erin Hamlin, again.
Eggert and Benecken won a World Cup race on the Lake Placid, N.Y., track for the fifth consecutive year Saturday, and Repilov won at Mount Van Hoevenberg for the second straight season. But Hamlin stole the show on the track where she dominated for nearly two decades, taking the farewell run of her career and cementing her retirement.
Hamlin served as a forerunner before the doubles race, wearing her distinctive stars-and-stripes helmet and donning a racing bib for the final time. Hamlin, who won the first of her two world championships at Mount Van Hoevenberg in 2009 and went on to become the first American to win a singles luge medal at the Olympics when she took bronze at the Sochi Games in 2014, officially left the competitive circuit at the end of last season.
Canadians in 5th
The Canadian duo of Tristan Walker and Justin Snith clocked a time of 1:28.358 to finish in fifth. The Olympic silver medallists have ended up in the top five at Lake Placid in each of the last three years, including their third career World Cup medal last year and a fourth-place finish two years ago.
"The doubles race in Lake Placid is kind of like heading down to the roulette table," said Calgary's Justin Snith.
"We hit a wall on each of the two runs, but we got lucky enough that it tends to be a bit of a struggle here for everyone. It is not our favourite track, but we had quite a few runs here in the fall so that plays into our advantage."
Walker, of Cochrane, Alta., added that they were satisfied with their result, but have some kinks to work out.
"We had a couple of small mistakes, but if we want to make it to the podium we need to be striving for perfection," he said.
Overall World Cup leaders
Eggert and Benecken continued their dominance in Lake Placid by opening up a big lead after the first heat and holding on for another gold, their second of the season and good enough to put them into the World Cup overall doubles points lead. German teammates Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt were second, and the Austrian sled of Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller took the bronze.
Watch Eggert and Benecken win their fifth straight Lake Placid title:
Chris Mazdzer and Jayson Terdiman, the lone U.S. doubles sled this season, were sixth.
"We're creeping forward and that's awesome," Mazdzer said.
Repilov posted the fastest time in both heats on his way to the victory in the men's race. Johannes Ludwig of Germany took second and Austria's Reinhard Egger was third.
'2 awesome runs'
Mazdzer, who is competing in both singles and doubles, was fourth on his home track — missing a medal by 0.04 seconds.
"I had two awesome runs, so I'm totally happy with how I performed today," Mazdzer said. "I left nothing out on the track. I couldn't have done any better and it's good knowing that. So close — fourth place at home. I now have two fourth-places at home, and it's the worst feeling ever. But it's also really good."
Austria's Wolfgang Kindl, who entered the day as the World Cup men's leader, was disqualified after the first run because his sled was overweight. Kindl won three of the season's first four men's races, but is almost certain to lose his World Cup points lead on Sunday because he will not be eligible for the sprint race.
The women's race is Sunday, along with sprint races in all three disciplines.