2010 Twenty Ten –

Live Blog - Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Live Blog

Womens Luge final run

17.02.10 / 10:37:57 AM

The medal deciding run for the womens luge is underway. Competitors race in reverse order to their standings, Australian Hannah Campbell-Pegg was fourth down the track and after 14 racers is sitting in 10th position.

The European powerhouses at the end of the order are expected to dominate the race, the main question is weather someone can steal a medal from the Germans, who have taken every Olympic medal for the past 12 years.

Huefner looking unbeatable

17.02.10 / 08:30:18 AM

Huefner is holding her lead comfortably as the tail end of the field comes through the course.

The First of the Canadians is about to start, they were disadvantaged by the decision to change the start point on the for the women, in an effort to reduce speeds due to the death of the Georgian athlete in training before the games.

The Canadian organisers have been criticised for allowing their teams to train extensively on the Olympic courses while keeping them closed to athletes from other countries.

Even in Canada, the criticism has been emerging. Here is an interesting article:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/arrogant+nationalism+were+sport+Canada+would+gold/2568915/story.html

Womens Luge runs 3 & 4

17.02.10 / 08:26:06 AM

Today the medals will be decided in the womens luge.

Australian Hannah Campbell-Pegg finished in 26th place at the end of day one's first and second runs. The field is led by the German superstar Tajiana Huefner ahead of the Austrian Nina Reithmayer. Germany has won every womens luge Olympic medal for eight years, Reithmayer must be hoping she can smash that stranglehold today.

World Champion Erin Hamlin

17.02.10 / 08:26:03 AM

Erin Hamlin from the USA is in the start, she is the current world champion but is out of the top three at the moment, she need a time around the 42 second mark, but her start has let her down. It is the worst start of the day so far - it doesn't looking like Erin can come back from that. She is more than a second off the leader's pace and comes in 15th after her third run.
It's just not happening for her today.

Womens Luge runs 1 and 2

16.02.10 / 02:44:57 PM

We apologise for lack of coverage for the womens luge first and second runs, we encountered technical difficulties during the event and were unable to blog live.

Australian Hannah Campbell-Pegg had two solid runs and is in 26th place after the first two runs. Austrian Nina Reithmaye unseated the dominating Germans in the first run but an excellent second run effort by German favourite Tatjana Huefner in the second saw her end up on top with team mate Natalie Geisenberger in third position at the end of the day's competition. The Germans have won gold, silver and bronze in womens luge in the last two Olympic Games

Reithmaye had one consolation, her first run set a track record of 41.728. To give you an idea of how close luge competition is, Hannah was just 0.799 behind the winning time in the first run.

There were a few anxious spills, including the Romanian Mihaela Chiras in the second run. She collided with a wall and was knocked off the sled. Because of the slipperiness of the track a lugist will usually slide a great distance if they come off. Chiras slid to within metres of the finish line before coming to a stop. Under luge rules, if she had walked across the finish line carrying her sled - she maintained a hold on it while sliding - her time would count, but she opted to step off the track and is disqualified.

The third and fourth runs of the luge take place tomorrow, all four times count towards the overall standings.

The www.vancouver2010.com website has a very interesting setup for tracking the competitors on course, it's worth having a look while the event is live.