Germans Throw a Shutout

Courtney Zablocki’s destiny as a luge racer can be traced to her childhood, when she and her brothers rode laundry baskets down the staircase in the family home.

She entered a street-luge competition when she was 12, responding to an advertisement at the local recreation center, then won a time trial to earn an invitation to a camp in Lake Placid, N.Y.

On Tuesday night at this outpost in the Alps, the 25-year-old from the Denver suburb of Highlands Ranch, Colo., was in fourth place and poised to become the first U.S. woman to win a medal in the 42 years luge has been an Olympic discipline.

But in the end, her effort fell just short as the always-powerful German team emerged with its sixth sweep. This time it was Sylke Otto, the gold-medal winner at Salt Lake City in 2002, repeating.

The silver was won by Silke Kraushaar and the bronze by Tatjana Huefner, whose time of 46.981 seconds in the fourth and final run was the fastest of the event and kept Zablocki from the podium.

“I’m really happy with my finish, but at the same time I’m very disappointed,” said Zablocki, who works as a gardening specialist for Home Depot. “I really thought I could get up there and, you know, it was so close but yet so far away, so I’m happy but it really hurts too. I did the best that I could.”

It was still a historic night for Zablocki, whose fourth-place finish -- with a combined time of 3:08.852 -- was the best ever for a woman on the U.S. singles team. Becky Wilczak and Cammy Myler were fifth at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and 1992 Albertville Games, respectively.

The event was held over two days and Zablocki was third after Monday’s two runs, with times of 47.253 and 47.129 seconds on the 1,435-meter track. She trailed Huefner by a mere .004 of a second.

Tuesday, she faltered only slightly during her third run, entering a couple of turns and clocking 47.234. Huefner slid the course in 47.101. Zablocki ran more cleanly in the fourth run, but her time of 47.236 seconds was only sixth best.

The Germans, meanwhile, held form and Otto closed with a 47.216-second run -- giving her a top combined time of 3:07.979 -- and crossed the finish line with her arms raised in triumph.

“I knew I had it; my sled was good,” she said.

German women have now won 27 medals, eight of them gold.

Asked what separated them from other sliders, Zablocki theorized, “Maybe they’re just more comfortable on the sled. They have a lot of depth and a lot of experience. How do you compete with that?”

Presumably, by finding a faster laundry basket in which to train.

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U.S. slider Samantha Retrosi, who was hospitalized after a violent crash Monday, was found to have suffered a concussion -- besides lacerations to her chin and leg -- and was released Tuesday.

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MEDAL WINNERS

WOMEN’S SINGLES

GOLD

* Sylke Otto, Germany

SILVER

* Silke Kraushaar, Germany

BRONZE

* Tatjana Huefner, Germany