| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
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| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
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| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
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Speedy Sunday puts Heidt within reach of luge medal
By Brady Snyder
Deseret News Olympic specialist
Espionage — it might be the U.S. luge team's greatest weapon.
And the counter-intelligence American sliders have engaged in all winter might pay off at the 2002 Winter Games for Adam Heidt.
For evidence look no further than Sunday's first two heats of luge competition where Heidt has a shot at becoming the first American to win an Olympic medal in singles luge competition.
The final two heats of men's singles were set for Monday at 9 a.m. The slider with the lowest combined time after all four runs takes gold.
Overnight Heidt was in fourth — the highest position an American singles slider has ever reached entering the second day of Olympic competition.
The luge big dogs lived up to their reputations as Armin Zoeggeler, Italy, and Georg Hackl, Germany, bested the former track record at Utah Olympic Park three times Sunday.
When the smoke cleared, Hackl owned the new track record at 44.494 seconds, but the German's two-run total was still slower than Zoeggeler's, who bested his own track record twice before Hackl set the new mark.
Then there was two-time Olympic silver medalist Markus Prock, Austria, who sat comfortably in third.
"Did I expect it? Yeah" Heidt, 24, from Northport, N.Y. said.
Just a month ago nobody would have expected it. However, Heidt showed some signs in the season ending World Cup in Winterberg, Germany, where he placed fifth — his highest finish in two years.
It seems Heidt might be peaking just in time. That peak, however, might not have come without some spy games.
Throughout the 2001-02 season U.S. sliders and coaches have been videotaping the Germans. Behind poles and around corners, U.S. cameras have been filming Germany's sleds.
The cloak-and-dagger operations came after U.S. sliders began to suspect that the Germans had developed a specialized suspension system, which allowed their athletes be more relaxed and aerodynamic on the track.
Through their covert operations, the Americans think they've figured the German system out and have developed similar suspensions for their sleds.
"I think that was a major part of (the recent success)," Heidt said. "Me, my coaches, we've been working on my sled for a while."
Even with a new suspension and a home field advantage Heidt wasn't able to knock the heavyweights out of position.
Even though Zoeggeler is the current world champion and a former Olympic silver medalist his lead was somewhat surprising since he had been posting slow times in training last week.
"This question I will answer tomorrow," the Italian said when asked if he was holding back during training.
"He wasn't sandbagging" during training, Heidt said. "Just playing games."
Hackl will likely provide a response to the Italian Monday. The German is the greatest slider of all time and is bidding to become the first Winter athlete to win gold in four consecutive Olympics. With a two-run time of 1 minute 29.108 seconds he's just .041 behind. Prock's time was 1:29.338 and Heidt was at 1:29.410.
Heidt was confident heading into Monday.
"I'm going to sleep like a rock tonight. It's just another day, just another race." Speaking of the two leaders he said "I have just as much talent as both of them."
American Tony Benshoof, White Bear Lake, Minn., had a disappointing day hitting the wall in the treacherous curve 2. He was 21st.
E-MAIL: bsnyder@desnews.com
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February 11, 2002
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