UTAH OLYMPIC PARK — The Verizon Wireless North American Luge Championships aren't a big international event but don't tell Mark Grimmette the competition isn't important.
"You have to take every race seriously, no matter how big the race is, we're just trying to go as fast as possible and win," Grimmette said after he and partner Brian Martin won the doubles luge competition Sunday.
Grimmette and Martin are America's best shot for a medal during Salt Lake's 2002 Winter Games when powerhouses like Germany, Austria and Italy will be in town.
Sunday, they defended the North American crown, with a two-race time of 1 minute 28.535 seconds.
Surprisingly, Grimmette and Martin's chief competition came from fellow countrymen Pat Anderson and Brian Wohlleb, who are spending their first season on the senior luge circuit.
Anderson and Wohlleb finished at 1:28.647 while Americans Chris Thorpe and Clay Ives completed the U.S. medals sweep in third position, .494 seconds behind Grimmette and Martin.
Americans also swept the medals in women's competition.
Brenna Margol, 1:29.432, won gold, Courtney Zablocki, 1:29.614, took silver and Ashley Hayden, 1:30.003 took bronze. Becky Wilzack, who might be America's best female slider, missed the competition for personal reasons.
In men's competition Tony Benshoof, who was America's best singles slider last year, defended his North American title.
"The race for me went really, really well," Benshoof said. "I knew I could do it; I just needed to put it all together."
Canada's Chris Moffat was the only non-American to take a medal Sunday with a second place finish — .250 slower than Benshoof's winning time of 1:32.276. Adam Heidt was third at 1.32.726.
Besides the U.S. and Canada, sliders from Sweden, England and Venezuela competed.
The seven-race World Cup season, which leads up to the Olympics, begins the first week of November in Calgary.
E-MAIL: bsnyder@desnews.com