Delaney: Hamlin is Vancouver bound
Erin Hamlin did it again. A big result in a big spot and Hamlin is a two-time USA Luge Olympian. She was the first American slider to clinch a spot for the Vancouver Games on Sunday at a World Cup series race in Altenberg, Germany.
Hamlin will race Feb. 15-16 on the fast track in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada outside of Vancouver. Hamlin was fifth at Whistler in one of the final World Cup series races last season.
She seems to be at her best when the odds are getting smaller. Four years ago, Hamlin came out of the USA Luge shadows to race onto the U.S. Olympic team for the Torino, Italy Games. She was 12th there and has gone no where but up since.
Even her World Championship gold medal came with a bump on the track. The day before the race in Lake Placid Hamlin suffered a migraine during training. She said there was no doubt she would compete in the Worlds but no one knew how she would perform.
Well, she won the World Championship with a second-run track record. As the reigning World Champion, Hamlin was pre-qualified for the Vancouver Games according to USA Luge qualification guidelines. She just needed a top five finish in one of the first four fall World Cup series race to lock up a spot: Calgary; Igls, Austria; Altenberg and Lillehammer, Norway.
When the schedule was released it looked like a lead-pipe synch. Hamlin was very happy to see Igls - host track of the 1976 Winter Olympics - in the first half of the season. Hamlin finished a World Cup-series best fourth there last year.
Hamlin did not clinch in Igls. She finished ninth. With two more chances for a top five entering this weekend, Hamlin's window of opportunity was closing. She was eighth last year in Altenberg and had not raced in Lillehammer since she was a junior.
So what happens? Hamlin bounced back from a shaky first run in Altenberg to move to fifth from eighth place on a track where she probably did not expect to do well.
That seems to be when she's at her best.
Hamlin will race Feb. 15-16 on the fast track in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada outside of Vancouver. Hamlin was fifth at Whistler in one of the final World Cup series races last season.
She seems to be at her best when the odds are getting smaller. Four years ago, Hamlin came out of the USA Luge shadows to race onto the U.S. Olympic team for the Torino, Italy Games. She was 12th there and has gone no where but up since.
Even her World Championship gold medal came with a bump on the track. The day before the race in Lake Placid Hamlin suffered a migraine during training. She said there was no doubt she would compete in the Worlds but no one knew how she would perform.
Well, she won the World Championship with a second-run track record. As the reigning World Champion, Hamlin was pre-qualified for the Vancouver Games according to USA Luge qualification guidelines. She just needed a top five finish in one of the first four fall World Cup series race to lock up a spot: Calgary; Igls, Austria; Altenberg and Lillehammer, Norway.
When the schedule was released it looked like a lead-pipe synch. Hamlin was very happy to see Igls - host track of the 1976 Winter Olympics - in the first half of the season. Hamlin finished a World Cup-series best fourth there last year.
Hamlin did not clinch in Igls. She finished ninth. With two more chances for a top five entering this weekend, Hamlin's window of opportunity was closing. She was eighth last year in Altenberg and had not raced in Lillehammer since she was a junior.
So what happens? Hamlin bounced back from a shaky first run in Altenberg to move to fifth from eighth place on a track where she probably did not expect to do well.
That seems to be when she's at her best.
posted by Anne Delaney at
10:34 PM
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