By David Kirton
YANQING, China (Reuters) – Every Olympics has its share of heroes, but for many of the women competing in the first half of the singles luge event on Monday evening there was also a clear villain – curve 13.
Exit the small hill into the twisting curve at the finale of the 1,615-metre track a fraction off trajectory, or without quite enough momentum, and even the world’s finest might be lucky to escape with only a poor time for injury.
Germany’s Julia Taubitz was in the lead after a scintillating run that set a new track record. But then she lost control on curve 13, flipping and skidding along near the finish line.
Though she spent some time with the medical team and was unable to talk to reporters after the race, she’ll be back again to compete on Tuesday, her coach said. Taubitz is in 14th place at the halfway mark.
He and several experts around the track surmised that the women were hitting the curve just a few kilometres slower than the men yesterday, with that lack of momentum being a real killer.
But Taubitz’s plight highlighted the risks of a sport where athletes hurtle feet-first and face-up down an icy track at speeds exceeding 130km an hour.
The United States’ Emily Sweeney, who broke her neck in the competition four years ago, had a strong first run, but then she too was hit by the curse of curve 13.
“That was hard,” she said, fighting back tears.
“It’s a tough spot you have to come out right, if you’re not correct coming out then the track gives away and you’re weightless.”
“If you’re crooked a little bit in your sled or you’re not in the right spot, it’ll get you.”
She goes into Tuesday’s deciding runs in 28th place – scant reward for her work to recover.
So too struggled Sweeney’s teammate Summer Britcher, who was already nursing a broken middle finger. She’s in 26th.
Add to the list Austria’s Madeleine Egle, a bronze medallist in Pyeongchang and one of the favourites, who flipped at curve 13 as well and lies in seventh place.
“You just have to keep calm and you need to have the right direction when you get out of the curve, because you can’t steer anything in the other direction, or you’ll skid or flip over,” she said.
Tatyana Ivanova, who endured bone and ligament damage in a crash on the same track in November, also crashed through curve 13, though the Russian managed to place third.
Amid all the chaos, the favourite and reigning gold medallist Natalie Geisenberger of Germany finished the first two rounds in pole position, followed by compatriot Anna Berreiter.
“I’m not thinking about this position because you saw today there’s so many crashes, so many bad situations for drivers crashing on exit 13, so I’m happy that I had two good runs,” said Geisenberger.
“It’s a hard situation and I think maybe I won’t sleep so well today.”
With all the injuries, an outsider might ask if curve 13 is simply too dangerous. But the competitors are another breed.
“It’s a cool curve, it’s good that there are some technical difficulties otherwise it would be boring,” said Egle.
“I think it’s cool to slide and to figure, it might make you crash, but still, it has a good feeling.”
“Every track needs some special parts,” agreed Geisenberger, who herself crashed at curve 13 in training on Sunday and at a training event in November.
“It’s a race sport, so crashes part of that, but today it wasn’t too much crashes I think.”
(Reporting by David Kirton; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
