Schmidt and Forker, who won last season in Lake Placid, N.Y., felt and looked very comfortable competing on their home track, racing to a first heat, track record time of 42.257 seconds en route to a combined time of 1 minute, 24.616 seconds. Italy’s Christian Oberstolz and Patrick Gruber, the reigning overall World Cup champions, settled for the silver medal after clocking a two-run combined time of 1:24.710, while Germany’s Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch slid to bronze in 1:24.742.

USA Luge’s Mark Grimmette (Muskegon, Mich.) and Brian Martin (Palo Alto, Calif.) finished 10th after posting a total time of 1:25.552, while their teammates, Preston Griffall (Salt Lake City, Utah) and Dan Joye (Carmel, N.Y.), slid to a two-heat time of 1:26.414 on their way to a 13th-place finish.

Fellow Americans Christian Niccum (Woodinville, Wash.) and Patrick Quinn (Lombard, Ill.) missed their second straight race as Niccum continues to recover from a concussion suffered, Tuesday, Nov. 15, while training for last weekend’s World Cup race in Cesana Pariol, Italy.

After three series stops, Oberstolz and Gruber lead the eight-race series with 245 points, only five more than Leitner and Resch. Austria’s Tobias Schiegl and Markus Schiegl sit in third place with 215 points. Griffall and Joye have slid to 113 points and are in ninth place, while Grimmette and Martin head into the Dec. 8-10 Calgary, Canada event in 11th-place with 105 points.

Huefner’s win also helped spark Germany to a podium sweep. The 22-year-old slid to a combined time of 1:46.591, .105 seconds faster than Silke Kraushaar, who slid to silver in 1:46.696. Anke Wischnewski posted a combined time of 1:46.728 and finished third. Fellow German Sylke Otto raced to an opening run, track record time of 53.091, but finished fourth.

USA Luge’s Courtney Zablocki (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) and Erin Hamlin (Remsen, N.Y.) slid to 10th and 11th-place finishes, respectively. Zablocki stopped the clock at 1:47.711, while Hamlin recorded a time of 1:47. 869. Fellow American Ashley Hayden (Westborough, Mass.) finished 12th in 1:48.142.

Kraushaar leads the women’s field with 255 points, while Otto is just 10 points behind, in second place. Huefner trails Kraushaar by 70 points and holds down the third place spot.

Zablocki is the top ranked American, eighth with 116 points, while Hayden is 11th with 98. Hamlin has earned 71 points and is 16th overall, while fellow American Samantha Retrosi (Saranac Lake, N.Y.) is 30th with 33 points.