U.S. Women Making Luge Improvements

In a fast sport, progress can be slow.

German women have dominated international luge competition, sweeping the top three spots in the World Cup rankings this season, all three medals at Salt Lake City and the first two places at Nagano. No U.S. woman has ever won an Olympic luge medal, but that day might not be far off.

“We definitely notice a difference between last year and this year,” said Ashley Hayden of Westborough, Mass., who won a bronze medal at the World Cup event in Winterberg, Germany, on Jan. 22 and finished ninth in the season standings.

“German women are still leading the field, but the time difference between them and the rest of the field has closed a little bit. There have been times they haven’t taken 1-2-3 and there’s been an Austrian or Canadian or American in there, something you never really saw the past few years.”

Hayden will get another chance to catch the Germans this weekend, at the World Luge Championships in Park City, Utah.

Hayden, who was eighth at the Salt Lake City Games, said U.S. women “basically have to put down perfect runs” to make up the hundredths of a second that separate them from the German medalists. “I feel this year I made a huge jump forward,” she said. “If that progress continues, I see that happening in a year....”

Barbara Niedernhuber, Silke Kraushaar and Sylke Otto of Germany led the World Cup standings and are the favorites this weekend. Otto won gold at Salt Lake City, ahead of Niedernhuber and Kraushaar, but Kraushaar beat out Niedernhuber for gold at Nagano.

In the men’s standings, Albert Demtschenko became the first Russian to win the World Cup overall title by earning 629 points to 501 for Germany’s Georg Hackl, who has won three gold medals and two silvers in the last five Olympics. Tony Benshoof of White Bear Lake, Minn., was the top-ranking American at sixth, but only 13 points out of third.

Benshoof, who had two silver-medal finishes in World Cup competition this season, welcomes the return to the Park City track, where he won two medals in the 2003-04 season.

“It’s nice being here,” he said. “We know the track as good as anyone. I’ve gone really fast here in the past, and I’m feeling pretty good right now.”

In doubles, Mark Grimmette of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Brian Martin of Palo Alto, bronze medalists at Nagano in 1998 and silver medalists at Salt Lake City, finished fourth. They had an uneven season, largely because of a back injury that hampered Grimmette.

Home-ice advantage might boost their performance. They got a little extra practice time at Park City after the World Cup final, which had been scheduled for Feb. 4-6 at the Olympic track in Turin, Italy, was canceled because of serious injuries suffered by several sliders.

“We can figure out the nuances of the track and you can get into a nice comfort zone,” Grimmette said.

Better Late Than Never

Twenty-five years after pair skaters Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner lost their chance to win a gold medal at the Lake Placid Olympics, the couple will finally skate together at the Olympic rink.

“It’s weird,” Babilonia said of their performance next week, part of the festivities commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Games. “I’m excited. I’m nervous. Do they care? Will they clap? Will they remember us?”

It’s impossible to forget the two Southern Californians, who were the 1979 world pair champions and were primed to end the Soviets’ Olympic dominance of the event. Their dream died when Gardner, who had pulled a groin muscle while practicing, was given an injection that numbed his leg too thoroughly for the duo to compete. They turned pro soon after and left the Olympic-eligible ranks.

Still friends and collaborators, they have never discussed what happened that day. Nor are they likely to bring it up next week.

“That was the night our lives changed forever,” Babilonia said. “I’m not quite sure there’s really anything to say. It’s our story. The fact that we’re going and we agreed to do this, maybe that’s all that needs to be done.”

Gardner, busy as a choreographer and director of ice shows, said he was looking forward to the performance. Also scheduled to skate are 1980 silver medalist Linda Fratianne and fourth-place finisher Lisa-Marie Allen. Many members of the gold medal-winning U.S. hockey team and skiers Phil and Steve Mahre are also expected to participate in the weeklong celebration.

Here and There

Pair figure skaters Rena Inoue and John Baldwin Jr. of Santa Monica withdrew from this week’s Four Continents Championships in Gangneung, South Korea, because Baldwin didn’t have enough time to train after injuring a disk in his back. He has recovered but didn’t want to risk further injury.

The World Bobsled Championships begin Friday and Saturday in Calgary, Canada, with the two-man competition. The four-man event will take place Feb. 26 and 27, and the women will compete Feb. 25 and 26.

The track will also play host to the World Skeleton Championships on Feb. 20 and 21.

Deena Kastor of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., the women’s Olympic marathon bronze medalist, will run in the U.S. women’s 8K championships on March 26. The race will begin and end at New York’s Randall’s Island.