Germany makes strong showing in luge World Cup

KOENIGSSEE, Germany (AP) -- Germany made a strong showing in World Cup luge Saturday, with victories in men's doubles and women's singles before a home crowd.

Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt led the men with their second victory of the season and their 12th World Cup win overall. Among the women, Natalie Geisenberger edged defending and Olympic champion Tatjana Huefner by 0.031 seconds.

Wendl and Arlt finished the two heats in 1 minute, 40.977 seconds. They beat Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken by 0.415 seconds, a repeat result from the opening doubles race of the season at Igls, Austria.

"To claim a victory in front of a home crowd is very nice indeed," Arlt said. "We didn't really have more practice runs than our opponents, but of course it's always an advantage to compete back home."

Austrian brothers Andreas and Wolfgang Linger, the defending World Cup and Olympic champions, were third - 0.949 behind the winners. Matt Mortensen and Preston Griffall of the U.S. were 11th.

In the women's race, Alex Gough of Canada, was third - 0.151 behind. Erin Hamlin was the top American, 11th.

Huefner, a four-time world champion, set a track record of 50.709 seconds in her second run but was unable to match Geisenberger's time of 1:41.450 over two heats. This was her 11th individual career win.

"We had to face difficult conditions today," Geisenberger said. "First, it was cold and very slippery and then in the second run we had snow. That's why the sleds became sluggish. We changed the set-up of my sled ahead of the first run and it really paid off."

NAGOYA, Japan (AP) -- Britain's Elise Christie and Russia's Victor An won 1,000-meter races Saturday in World Cup short-track speedskating while South Korean women swept the 1,500.

Christie, the World Cup leader, was timed in 1 minute, 30.489 seconds. She was followed by two South Koreans - Kim Min-jung in 1:31.371 and Lee So-youn in 1:31.443.

An won in 1:28.344, edging J.R. Celski of the U.S. by 0.073 seconds. Noh Jin-kyu of South Korea was third in 1:28.772.

World Cup leader Shim Suk-hee took the women's 1,500 in 2:47.066. Park Seung-hi was 0.075 seconds behind and Cho Ha-ri was third in 2:47.248.

The men's and women's 500-meter finals are Sunday

KUUSAMO, Finland (AP) -- Russia's Alexander Legkov and Norway's Marit Bjorgen won World Cup cross-country races Saturday.

Legkov captured the 10-kilometer freestyle, beating Petter Northug of Norway and Maurice Manificat of France. Legkov finished in 21 minutes, 52.8 seconds. Northug was 6.8 seconds behind and Manificat trailed by 7.9.

Bjorgen dominated the women's 5-kilometer freestyle in 12 minutes, 2.9 seconds. Kikkan Randall of the U.S. was 22.7 seconds behind and Russia's Yulia Tchekaleva was third, 24.5 seconds off the pace. Norwegians took the next five places.

KUUSAMO, Finland (AP) -- Jason Lamy Chappuis of France took the lead in the Nordic combined World Cup event by winning the 10-kilometer ski race Saturday.

He is followed by Magnus Krog of Norway and Sebastian Lacroix of France going into Sunday's ski jumping.

Chappuis, the defending overall champion, was timed in 26 minutes, 49.5 seconds. Krog was 13 seconds behind and Lacroix trailed by 13.2.

Lamy Chappuis leads the overall standings with 230 points, 23 ahead of Norway's Magnus Moan. Haavard Klemetsen, also from Norway, is 89 points behind.