Germany's Tatjana Huefner celebrates after winning the women's World Cup luge Saturday in Calgary. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)

Germany's powerhouse women's luge team, led by top slider Tatjana Huefner, destroyed all comers Saturday by sweeping the top four spots at the opening event of the World Cup sport's season.

Huefner, the bronze medal winner at the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, recorded a two-run time of one minute 33.691 seconds to take the gold medal in the event at Canada Olympic Park near Calgary.

The 26-year-old from Neuruppin led after the first run and didn't look back. She also set a track start-record of 4.913 seconds, beating the mark formerly held by Regina's Meaghan Simister.

"All four German women were good. We love to make it so dominant here," said Huefner, who dominated the World Cup circuit last season with six gold medals and three silvers.

"We all love Calgary's track and we are very good here."

Huefner edged teammate Natalie Geisenberger by 16/100ths of a second.

Anke Wischnewski was third, a third of a second back, and Corinna Martini was fourth, four-fifths of a second off the pace.

Alex Gough of Calgary was the top Canadian at sixth, just under nine-tenths of a second back.

The 22-year-old from Calgary hit the wall in the first run and skidded lower down on the course on the second stint to push herself down the standings.

"There were a few mistakes here and there. I would have liked to have had clean runs, but I'm happy with sixth place," said Gough.

By finishing in the top seven, Gough qualified for selection to the Olympic team. She is considered Canada's best Olympic medal hope in luge heading into the February 2010 event at Whistler.

Canada has never won an Olympic medal in the sport.

Gough was fourth in the World Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y., in February and eighth overall on last season's World Cup circuit.

Veteran slider Regan Lauscher of Red Deer, Alta., was 10th, Simister was 17th and Calgary's Denae Delcourt 23rd in the 24-sled field.

Lauscher, aiming for her third Olympic Games, bounced off the wall in the first run, but said she relaxed in the second stint and improved.

"I knew there was no way I could catch the top girls unless they were making some serious mistakes, so I really wanted to have a good run and end on a good note," she said.

The win was sweet redemption for the German women.

They had won 99 consecutive international races — World Cup, Olympics, and World Championships — until American Erin Hamlin took gold at the World Championships last February in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Hamlin beat the Germans by about a fifth of a second over two runs. She became a hero in her hometown of Remsen in upstate New York. Signs along the main street celebrated her win and she had an ice cream sundae named for her.

Hamlin was seventh Saturday, losing time higher up in the track that she couldn't make up.

"There were a few mistakes you can't afford on this track," said Hamlin.

"Those little mistakes cost a lot at the bottom."

The next race is Nov. 28-29 at Igls, Austria.

Canadian Edney 5th in men's race

Italian luge legend Armin Zoeggeler won the season's inaugural World Cup race Saturday, but Calgary's Sam Edney made a statement by finishing a career-best fifth.

Zoeggeler edged German slider David Moeller by 5/100ths of a second over two runs to win gold in the men's singles event at Canada Olympic Park.

Russia's Albert Demtschenko was third, a tenth of a second behind Zoeggeler's combined time of 1:30.068.

The finish was a big boost for Edney. He was 19th at the 2006 Turin Olympics and had struggled since to crack the top-20 in World Cup rankings.

Fifth place also gives a lift to Canada's luge program, which has won just four World Cup medals in its history, one world championship gold, and no Olympic hardware.

"I see now we're in the league where we want to be and [the strong finishes] are not just a fluke anymore," said Canadian coach Wolfgang Staudinger.

Staudinger, recruited from the German team two years ago, has overhauled Canada's luge program, emphasizing more dryland training to improve start times and having the sleds custom-built in-house.

Jeff Christie of Vancouver was ninth while Brendan Hauptman of Kimberley, B.C. was 22nd in the 32-sled field.