By David Kirton
YANQING, China (Reuters) -Natalie Geisenberger, the most decorated woman in luge, held her nerve where rivals crashed to win gold with a new track record in Tuesday’s singles, and extend Germany’s domination of the event to 24 years.
Her compatriot Anna Berreiter took the silver while Tatiana Ivanova of the Russian Olympic Committee won bronze.
Johannes Ludwig had also claimed gold for Germany in the men’s event on Sunday.
It was not only Geisenberg’s third gold medal, but also the Bavarian police officer’s first since she became a mother almost two years ago.
“I think it was a pretty hard way because my son is absolutely my number one, and my training was around my child,” she said. “But that I’m now here with another gold medal is just amazing.”
Crashes by several favourites on Monday night had torn up the form book.
At speeds of up to 129 km per hour (80 miles per hour) on a run of sheet-ice, a tiny mistake can be catastrophic.
Germany’s Julia Taubitz, winner of the last World Cup season, led the pack on her first run, before flipping and skidding near the finish line on her second.
After a twitchy third run, her final descent showed her real talent, taking her from 14th on Monday night to a seventh-place finish.
“The next weeks I think will be really hard for me,” Taubitz said after the race. “Now I need time for me, to explain this all, then I can talk with other people about it.”
Austria’s Madeleine Egle, second best in the World Cup, also clawed her way back from a crash on the first run to finish fourth.
For the United States, the race was supposed to be a triumph over injury, with Emily Sweeney returning to the Olympics after breaking her neck in Pyeongchang four years ago, while Summer Britcher nursed a broken finger.
But after both crashed on Monday night, Ashley Farquharson was the only American among the top 20 who qualified for the fourth and final run.
Ivanova’s bronze was her first Olympic medal since her silver in the team relay in Sochi in 2014.
The IOC banned her from competing and rescinded her medal in December 2017 for alleged anti-doping violations, only for the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn the decision a few months later, citing insufficient evidence.
She has spent the last few months trying to recover from a bone ligament injury sustained on the Yanqing track in November.
“It was very hard to get back. I’m happy our entire team has made it and we have won the bronze medal, which smells of gold to me,” she said.
Geisenberger almost turned down the opportunity to compete for another medal after being unhappy with track conditions on a trip in November, when she spent several days in quarantine with suspected COVID-19.
She has also expressed concerns about the human rights situation in China.
But last month she said on social media: “Do I fly there and give everything or do I just let my sporting dream burst so close to the end?”
She is unlikely to regret her decision.
(Reporting by David Kirton; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Kevin Liffey)
