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World Cup Luge

The World Cup Luge tour stopped in Altenberg, Germany over the weekend, and Erin Hamlin had the top finish among the area athletes who competed there for the United States.

On Sunday, Dec. 6, Hamlin, of Remsen, placed fifth in the two-heat race, and in doing so became the first USA Luge athlete to nail down a spot on the U.S. Olympic team based on her World Cup performances to date. Hamlin stood in eighth place after the first heat with a run of 54.475 seconds, and then climbed in the standings, turning in the fourth-fastest second heat, a 54.047 result, to finish with a 1:48.522 total. Hamlin's combined time was nearly a second behind the winner, Tatjana Hufner, who led Germany to a sweep of the top four positions.

Hamlin currently stands sixth in the overall women's luge World Cup rankings with 369 points.

Chris Mazdzer of Saranac Lake finished 20th in the Altenberg men's World Cup race on Saturday, Dec. 5. Mazdzer turned in a two-heat total of 1:50.212, which was 1.301 seconds off the winning time of Felix Loch of Germany. Mazdzer is currently 37th overall in the men's World Cup tour standings with 59 points.

In Altenberg doubles luge on Saturday, Dec. 5, Lake Placid residents Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin finished in 15th place with a 1:25.983 two-heat total, which was 1.523 seconds off the winning result. The race was won by Germany's Andre Florschutz and Torsten Wustlich. Grimmette and Martin stand in eighth place to lead the U.S. doubles teams in the World Cup rankings.

This weekend, the World Cup Luge tour will be in Lillehammer, Norway.

World Cup Bobsled

After capturing the first two World Cup bobsled medals of his career last month on his home track in Lake Placid, John Napier continued his solid sliding when the tour made its third stop of the season over the weekend in Cesana, Italy,

Napier turned in a pair of top-10 finishes on the track where the 2006 Olympic sliding competitions were held, placing fifth in the two-man race on Saturday, Dec. 5, and taking ninth place in the four-man contest the following day.

Napier teamed up with push athlete Justin Olsen to turn in a two-heat total of 1:52.90, which was a mere .03 seconds away from the third-place podium finish time of U.S. teammate Steve Holcomb. The race was won by Switzerland driver Beat Hefti and his brakeman Thomas Lamparter, who finished in 1:52.37.

On Sunday, Dec. 6, Napier was joined by Jamie Moriarty, TJ Burns and Nick Cunningham as the team took ninth place with a 1:52.00 two-heat combined time. Holcomb and his crew captured the victory in the race, finishing with a 1:55.21 total for their second straight four-man World Cup gold medal.

This week, the bobsledders will be competing in Winterberg, Germany, the fourth stop on this season's World Cup circuit.

Biathlon

It was an historic week for the U.S. biathlon team, as Tim Burke of Paul Smiths captured two medals on the World Cup season's opening tour stop in Ostersund, Sweden.

Burke's first medal was a silver earned in a 20-kilometer race on Thursday, Dec. 3, which ended a 17-year absence from the podium for the Americans in World Cup competition. He finished second to Norway's Emil Hegle Svendsen in a race that featured an international field of more than 130 men. The 27-year-old Burke then added a bronze medal on Saturday in a 10k sprint race. During the two races, Burke only missed one target at the shooting range.

After not starting the 20k race, Lake Placid's Lowell Bailey placed 55th in Saturday's sprint.

Lake Placid's Haley Johnson also represented the United States at the Ostersund World Cup competition. On Wednesday, Dec. 2, Johnson finished 91st in the women's 15k competition, and followed with a 99th-place result Saturday, Dec. 5 in a 7.5k sprint race.

This week, the World Cup biathlon circuit will feature competitions in Hochfilzen, Austria.

Nordic combined

Three-time Olympian Bill Demong of Vermontville kicked off the Nordic Combined World Cup season with a pair of top-15 finishes in the tour's first stop held over the weekend in Lillehammer, Norway.

On Saturday, Dec. 5, Demong finished 14th in a 10k event won by Jason Lamy Chappuis of France, who triumphed in 24 minutes, 25.9 seconds. Demong was a little under a minute off that finish time, completing the course in 25:22.3. The next day, Demong skied to an eighth-place result in another 10k race, finishing in 23:49.3. Demong finished 35 seconds behind race winner Tino Edelmann of Germany.

Nordic combined World Cup athletes will have this week off due to the cancellation of two competitions that were slated to be held in the Czech Republic. World Cup action is scheduled to pick up again Dec. 19 and 20 in Ramsau am Dachstein, Austria.

Alpine skiing

Lake Placid's Andrew Weibrecht kept his string of strong performances going in the World Cup tour, finishing in the top 20 in two races held over the weekend in Beaver Creek, Colo.

On Friday, Dec. 4, Weibrecht was the only American skier to reach the finish line in a combined event, which featured downhill and slalom runs. While teammates Ted Ligety and Bode Miller were knocked out of the race, Weibrecht sped to a 19th-place finish, which included the fifth-fastest downhill finish time.

Weibrecht then improved on his result the next day, placing 11th in a downhill race that saw the 23-year-old climb back after starting as the 62nd racer out of the gates. Weibrecht was the second fastest U.S. finisher in the race, after Miller skied to a fourth-place result.