CALGARY, Canada --- Team USA, which included the doubles luge team of Mark Grimmette (Muskegon, Mich.) and Brian Martin (Palo Alto, Calif.) and singles sliders Courtney Zablocki (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) and Tony Benshoof (White Bear Lake, Minn.), combined to slide to a gold medal finish in Saturday’s, Dec. 10, World Cup luge team competition, held in Calgary, Canada.

On their way to a combined time of 2 minutes, 17.435 seconds, Grimmette and Martin raced to a first place time, within the 12-nation doubles’ field, of 44.000 seconds, while Zablocki was the second fastest women’s singles slider after posting a single-run time of 47.583. Benshoof finished second against the men’s singles field after racing to a one-run time of 45.852.

Team Austria captured the silver medal. The tandem of Tobias Schiegl and Markus Schiegl and singles sliders, Sonja Manzenreiter and Markus Kleinheinz combined to record a total time of 2:17.799, just .049 seconds in front of the bronze medal winning Canadian lineup, which included the pair of Chris Moffat and Mike Moffat and singles sliders, Regan Lauscher and Jeff Christie.

Russia’s Albert Demtschenko stormed back from 14th-place to beat Germany’s Georg Hackl in the men’s singles event. The 34-year-old Demtschenko slid to the race’s fastest time, 44.733, during his second run and finished in 1:30.468, .151 seconds in front of Hackl, who led after the first heat. Hackl was eying his 34th-career World Cup victory, but settled for the silver medal after scoring a 16th-place, second heat run on his way to a combined time of 1:30.619. Fellow German, David Moeller raced to a total time of 1:30.658, on the 1988 Olympic track, and emerged as the race’s bronze medalist.

Jonathan Myles (Rumney, N.H.) finished a U.S.-high 11th. The 23-year-old sat in third place following the first heat of competition, but slipped after racing to a 23rd-place second run time and finished in 1:30.963. Benshoof was disqualified for being two-tenths of a kilogram over his additional weight.

The win keeps Demtschenko in first place in the overall men’s singles standings, with 340 points, heading into Friday and Saturday’s, Dec. 16-17, series stop in Lake Placid, N.Y. Benshoof, who entered the race tied with Demtschenko for the overall lead, fell to fourth place and trails Demtschenko by 100 points. Kleinheinz is second, with 249 points, while Armin Zoeggeler, of Italy, has 244 points and is third overall.