Cesana, Italy – Armin Zoeggeler carved up the ice with the precision of a sculptor, won his second gold medal and gave Italy another reason to party.
Tony Benshoof’s big celebration fizzled fast – and the U.S. is still 0-for-singles luge.
Pushed to go faster by thousands of fans waving Italy’s green, white and red, Zoeggeler blazed to his second consecutive title in singles luge Sunday night, the host nation’s first gold of the Turin Games.
“I never said I am the greatest,” said Zoeggeler, whose Olympic medal collection also includes a silver and bronze. “I am what I am.”
For now, he’s the world’s fastest man on ice – for four more years.
It’s a title Benshoof has been chasing, and for a short time, it appeared the 30-year-old Minnesotan might join Zoeggeler on the podium. After completing his fourth run, Benshoof could almost feel a medal dangling from his neck as he waited near the finish line for Latvia’s Martins Rubenis to come down the 19-turn track.
But his hopes soon evaporated into the thin alpine air when Rubenis, who began the day in fourth, zoomed past him in the standings.
Benshoof finished fourth, .153 seconds from winning the American team’s first singles medal in luge. The U.S. drought continues, 42 years and climbing.
“It’s hard to believe I judge my life on that small of a time frame,” Benshoof said. “That blink of an eye, that’s the difference between USA luge history and, you know, fourth place. … I didn’t think Martins would hold up under the pressure, but he did.”
The bitter ending was familiar for the Americans. In 2002 at the Salt Lake City Games, Adam Heidt finished fourth.
Benshoof said he plans to be in Vancouver in 2010 to make another run at a medal.
