Team Canada, Italy's Zoeggeler win luge races
Last Updated: Sunday, November 29, 2009 | 11:24 AM ET
CBC Sports
Italy's Armin Zoeggeler speeds down the course en route to winning the men's luge race at Igls. (Kerstin Joensson/Associated Press)Italy's Armin Zoeggeler won his second straight men's luge World Cup race on Sunday, edging countryman Wilfried Huber by 0.097 seconds in Igls, Austria.
Zoeggeler finished in a combined time of one minute, 37.988 seconds for his 47th career title. He won the season-opening race in Calgary last week.
Viktor Kneib of Russia was 0.103 seconds back in third for his career-best World Cup result.
Sam Edney was the top Canadian, finishing 18th in 1:36.463, while Jeff Christie was 21st in 1:38.637.
Edney later helped Canada win the less-than-prestigious team relay event, along with teammates Chris Moffat, Mike Moffat and Alex Gough and Sam Edney.
The Canadians posted the fastest times in all three runs to win in a combined time of 3:10.864 seconds. That was more than a second faster than runner-up Austria (2:11.868).
Latvia placed third in 2:12.094, while pre-race favourite Germany was disqualified for not hitting the stop button at the finish.
The team competition consists of one female, one male and one doubles team, who each complete one run for a combined final time. In an effort to make the event more exciting for the teams and spectators, luge's governing body introduced the relay system that has athletes hitting a pad at the finish, which in turn opens the gate at the start for the next team member.
Strategy comes into play as the coaches communicate over radio to make sure the next athlete is ready to go as soon as the gate opens.
"The team competition was just awesome today," said Edney. "It puts the emphasis on the start and reaction time at the start and we are very strong there."
With files from The Canadian Press
