CALGARY — In the sport of luge, Germany is king and America remains a second fiddle planning a coup.
The land of the Deutchemark dominated Saturday during the 35th world championships of luge in Calgary. Sylke Otto, who established a new track record, led the German women to a podium sweep, and German teams took the two top spots in doubles competition as Andre Florschuetz and Torsten Wustlich secured gold in track-record time.
German successes in the season's biggest race were juxtaposed with U.S. disappointments, especially since the Americans as a whole were beginning to pressure the traditional powerhouse.
Just two weeks ago at the World Cup competition in Park City, three American women finished in the top eight, on the cusp of overtaking German heavyweights, and America's doubles teams were both in the top five.
Even yesterday a four-member American outfit captured a bronze medal in the world championship team competition — a first for any U.S. squad.
That was the past, however, and Saturday told a different story.
"This weekend, I don't know, we just had high expectations and sometimes it's not there. But it's part of the sport," said Ashley Hayden, who was America's fastest woman Saturday, finishing 10th.
For the Germans, it was there, and they even had a home-crowd advantage.
A raucous contingency traveled across the globe to cheer their sliding heroes, and by the day's end, fans were toasting champagne and chanting traditional beer-drinking songs.
Lugist Wustlich even appeased the German crazies with a celebratory head-first belly slide on the frozen track parking lot.
"It's unbelievable. I'm overjoyed. Tonight we're going to have a big party," said Wustlich, who tipped a champagne bottle following the win.
Countrymen Steffan Skel and Stephan Woeller earned a silver medal while Austria's Markus Schiegl and Tobias Schiegl were the day's only non-German medalists in third.
But while the favorites celebrated, the Americans, who had looked so promising a day earlier, faltered.
Doubles partners Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin, the reigning Olympic bronze medalists, nearly flipped their sled during their first run and settled for ninth. Chris Thorpe, a silver medalist in Nagano, and partner Clay Ives finished 10th.
"We're very disappointed," Grimmette said. "We wanted this one. We wanted it badly."
The doubles' disappointment snowballed on the American women whose competition followed.
The four-member women's squad — ranked ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th in the world — finished 10th, 11th, 14th and 39th in the season's biggest race.
On the flip side, the German women's results mirrored their high expectations.
Crowd favorite Otto, who was cheered by fans sporting bibs with her picture, defended her world championship title from last year.
Teammates Silke Kraushaar, Barbara Niedernhuber and Sonja Wiedemann were second, third and fourth respectively.
"For world championships, it's great when you're standing at the top and have two Germans on either side," Otto said.
Today, the world championships continue with the men's competition.
The U.S. team will return to Park City next weekend for the season-ending National Championships March 3 and 4.
Women's World Championship
1. Sylke Otto, Germany, 1:29.393 seconds (44.607, 44.786).
2. Silke Kraushaar, Germany, 1:29.681 (44.793, 44.888).
3. Barbara Niedernhuber, Germany, 1:29. 861 (44.806, 45.055).
4. Sonja Wiedemann, Germany, 1:30.271 (44.935, 45.336).
5. Angelika Neuner, Austria, 1:30. 393 (45.169, 45.224).
6. Gabi Bender, Germany, 1:30. 399 (45.297, 45.102).
7. Veronika Halder, Austria, 1:30.515 (45.167, 45.348).
8. Iluta Gaile, Latvia, 1:30.606 (45.165, 45.441).
9. Sonja Manzenreiter, Austria, 1:30.690 (45.227, 45.463).
10. Ashley Hayden, USA, 1:30.718 (45.286, 45.432).
Doubles World Championship
1. Andre Florschuetz/Torsten Wustilch, Germany, 1:28.628 (44.283, 44.345).
2. Steffan Skel/Stephan Woeller, Germany, 1:28.689 (44.297, 44.392).
3. Markus Schiegl/Tobias Schiegl, Austria, 1:28.896 (44.443, 44.453).
4. G. Plankensteiner/Oswald Haselrieder, Italy, 1:29.051 (44.600, 44.451).
5. Patric Leitner/Alex Resch, Germany, 1:29.152 (44.494, 44.658).
6. Grant Albrecht/Mike Moffat, Canada, 1:29.180 (44.715, 44.465).
7. Kurt Brugger/Wilfried Huber, Italy, 1:29.203 (44.523, 44.680).
8. Mark Grimmette/Brian Martin, USA, 1:29.361 (44.843,44.518).
9. Chris Thorpe/Clay Ives, USA, 1:29.440 (44.691, 44.749).
10. Sebastian Schmidt/Andre Forker, Germany, 1:29.582 (44.821, 44.761).
E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com