Olympic Luge Champ Geisenberger Wins World Cup Opener

Olympic luge champion Natalie Geisenberger led a German 1-2-3-4 finish in the opening race of the World Cup season Saturday.

Geisenberger posted the fastest time in both runs and clocked an aggregate 1 minute, 19.822 seconds to beat Dajana Eitberger, a former junior world champion, by 0.209.

Tatjana Huefner was 0.218 behind in third, and Anke Wischnewski trailed Geisenberger by 0.268 in fourth.

Olympic bronze medalist Erin Hamlin of the United States was 11th after the opening run but improved to fifth in the final run, more than 0.5 seconds off the lead.

Temperatures of up to 15 degrees Centigrade (59 F) had softened the ice on the 1976 Olympic track.

The men's doubles race is later Saturday.