2010 Olympic Luge took place from February 13 through February 17 at the The Whistler Sliding Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia. The luge competition takes place every four years at the site of the Winter Olympics. Luge is a French word for sled. Each sled is made of fiberglass and the competitors race down the winding track flat on their backs. Steering is accomplished with the use of legs and shoulders and breaking is down by pulling on sled runnings, putting feet down and sitting up. The events include men's and women's singles and doubles.

There will be four runs during the singles competitions and two runs during the doubles competitions.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-luge/additional-information/about-the-sport_146008cR.html Singles competitors to keep an eye on include Erin Hamlin of the United States, Armin Zoeggeler of Italy, Albert Demtschenko of Russia and Torsten Wustlich, Andre Florschuetz and Tatjana Huefner of Germany. Doubles competitors to watch include Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin of the United States, Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch of Germany and Wolfgang Linger and Andreas Linger of Austria.http://www.nbcolympics.com/luge/athletes/index.html

The origin of the luge dates back to February 12, 1883 when Peter Minsch of Switzerland and George Robertson of Australia tied in the "Great International Sled Race". The luge was not an event in the Olympics until 1964.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-luge/additional-information/about-the-sport_146008cR.html At the 2010 Olympics, there is a maximum of 110 competitors with the target breakdown of 40 men, 30 women and 20 doubles. Races were timed to hundrendths of a second through 1972 and to the thousandth of a second thereafter. The closest race recorded in a men's single was 0.13 seconds in 1994 and the closest Olympic race in history was a woman's event in 1998 determined by 0.002 seconds.http://www.nbcolympics.com/luge/insidethissport/index.html Legendary athletes in the luge include Armin Zoeggeler of Italy, Georg Hackl, Jan Behrendt and Steffi Walter of Germany.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-luge/athletes/legendary-athletes/

February 13

The first run of men's singles was held at 5:00 pm. Felix Loch of Germany finished first with a track record time of 48.168 seconds. Teammate David Moeller finished second with a time of 48.341 seconds. Armin Zoeggeler was third, .132 seconds behind Moeller. Albert Demtschenko of Russia finished fifth with a time of 48.590 seconds. A total of 38 men qualified for the second run.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-luge/schedule-and-results/mens-singles-run-1_lgm010101mA.html

The second run was held at 7:10 pm. Felix Loch maintained his lead after winning the second run with a time of 48.402 seconds. His total time of 1:36.570 kept him 0.282 seconds ahead of teammate David Moeller, who had a second run time of 48.511 seconds. Armin Zoeggeler remained in third with a second run time of 48.529 and overall time of 1.37.002. Albert Demtschenko moved up to fourth, Andi Langenhan of Germany was fifth, Daniel Pfister of Austria was sixth and Tony Benshoof of the United States was in seventh.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-luge/schedule-and-results/mens-singles-run-2_lgm010102dm.html

February 14

The third run of men's singles was held at 1:00 pm. Felix Loch had a time of 48.344 seconds, to maintain his lead by 0.52 seconds over his teammate David Moeller, who had a time of 48.582 seconds. Arim Zoeggeler remained in third, 1.002 seconds behind, with a time of 48.914 seconds. Each of the top seven remained in the same position heading into the medal run.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-luge/

The medal run of the men's singles was held at 3:10 pm. Felix Loch, who lead for each of the first three runs, had a time of 48.171 seconds to win the gold medal. He finished 0.679 seconds ahead of David Moeller, who won the silver medal. Armin Zoeggeler had a final run of 48.459 seconds to hold off Albert Demtschenko by 0.03 seconds to win the bronze medal. The highest finish for a United States competitor was eighth by Tony Benshoof.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-luge/schedule-and-results/mens-singles-run-4_lgm010104t7-om.html

February 15

The first round of women's singles was held at 5:00 pm. Twenty-eight competitors completed the course and had official times, but Aya Yusada of Japan was disqualified. Nina Reithmayer of Austria set a track record with a time of 41.728 seconds. Natalie Geisenberger and Tatjana Huefner of Germany finished second and third, .015 and .032 seconds behind Reithmayer. Maija Tiruma of Latvia finished fourth with a time of 41.773. Erin Hamlin of the United States finished eighth and Alex Gough of Canada finished seventeenth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-luge/schedule-and-results/womens-singles-run-1_lgw010101Cg.html

The second round of women's singles was held at 6:50 pm. Twenty-seven competitors completed the course and had official times, but Mihaela Chiras of Romania did not finish and is out of the competition. Tatjana Huefner moved from third to first after the fastest run of run of 41.481 seconds. First round leader Nina Reithmayer was second overall with a run of 41.563 and .05 seconds behind overall. Natalie Geisenberger dropped to third, .159 seconds behind, after her second round run of 41.657 seconds. Tatiana Ivanova of Russia moved up to fourth after a second run of 41.601. Maija Tiruma dropped to eigth, Erin Hamlin dropped to fifteenth and Alex Gough finished in 22nd overall.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-luge/schedule-and-results/womens-singles-run-2_lgw010102t7-wC.html

February 16

The third round of the women's singles was held at 1:00 pm. Twenty-nine competitors started and twenty-seven posted times. Mihaela Chiras of Romania did not finish and Aya Yasuda of Japan was disqualified. Tatjana Huefner remained in the lead with third run time of 41.666 seconds. She increased her lead to .268 seconds over Nina Reithmayer, who had a run of 41.884 seconds. Natalie Geisenberger remained in third but dropped to .293 seconds behind. He run time of 41.8 seconds was second best of the round. Tatiana Ivanova remained in fourth. For the United States, Julia Clukey finished in fifteenth and Erin Hamlin finished in sixteenth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-luge/schedule-and-results/womens-singles-run-3_lgw010103mE.html

The final round of women's singles were held at 2:50 pm. Tatjana Huefner, who lead after each of the first three rounds, won the gold medal with a final run of 41.617 seconds. She won by .491 seconds over Nina Reithmayer, who won the silver with a final run of 41.839 seconds. Natalie Geisenberger ranked only seventh with her final run time of 41.901, but it was good enough to hold on to third and claim the bronze medal. Taiana Ivanova finished fourth, Anke Wischnewski of Germany finished fifth and Alexandra Rodionova of Russian finished sixth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-luge/schedule-and-results/womens-singles-run-4_lgw010104dq.html

February 17

The first round of the luge doubles was held at 5:00 pm. Twenty teams competed. Andreas Linger and Wolfgang Linger of Austria set a track record with a time of 41.332 seconds. Andris Sics and Juris Sics of Latvia finished second with a time of 41.42 seconds. Patrick Gruber and Christian Oberstolz of Italy finished third with a time of 41.527 seconds.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-luge/schedule-and-results/doubles-run-1_lgx020101bR.html

The second round of the luge doubles was held at 6:30 pm. Austria with Andrea Linger and Wolfgang Linger won the gold with a second run time of 41.373 seconds and overall time of 1:22.705. Latvia with Andris Sics and Juris Sics won the silver medal, .264 seconds behind Austria. Germany with Alexander Resch and Patric Leitner won the bronze with an overall time of 1:23.040.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-luge/schedule-and-results/doubles-run-2_lgx020102TD.html

Winners

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