Canadian Press
January 12, 2008
CESANA PARIOL, Italy -
Christian Oberstolz and Patrick Gruber won the
doubles title at the luge European Championship on
Saturday for the first title of their career.
The Italians won
both heats and finished with a combined time of one minute 33.779 seconds.
Brothers Andreas
and Wolfgang Linger of Austria
took the silver medal on the track where they won gold at the 2006 Turin
Olympics, with a time of 1:33.938.
There was a tie
for third between Gerhard Plankensteiner and Oswald Haselrieder of Italy
and Patric Leitner and
Alexander Resch of Germany, with both pairs timing
1:33.962.
In the women's
singles, Natalie Geisenberger of Germany edged
her teammate Silke Kraushaar-Pielach
by two-tenths of a second.
Geisenberger finished with an overall
time of 1:35.364 after the two heats. Kraushaar-Pielach
won the first heat and placed fourth in the second heat. Veronika
Halder of Austria took the bronze medal.