LAKE PLACID, N.Y. --- The U.S. luge team opened the 2007-08 luge World Cup series with three top-five finishes, two in the women's singles event, and one in the doubles race. Julia Clukey (Augusta, Maine) captured a career-best fourth place result in Friday's, Nov. 16, women's race in Lake Placid, N.Y., while Erin Hamlin (Remsen, N.Y.) was fifth. The team of Christian Niccum (Woodinville, Wash.) and Dan Joye (Carmel, N.Y.) were also fifth in the doubles event.

"I'm very pleased with how I raced today, I tried to stay as relaxed as possible and just focus on two solid runs," said Clukey, who raced to a two-run time of one minute, 29.379 seconds. "The weather conditions were much different than what we were training on throughout the week, but it set up pretty well for me."

Hamlin, a 2006 Olympian, also felt comfortable under the cold, cloudy skies and light snowfall and finished just .065 seconds behind her teammate. "I feel pretty good about the way I slid," stated Hamlin regarding her two-run time of 1:29.444. "I have to be more consistent, though. I had a good second run, but I'm not that happy with what I did during the first."

Germany's Silke Kraushaar-Pielach, who's in her last season on tour, notched her 36th-career World Cup victory in a two-heat time of 1:29.163. Natalie Geisenberger and Anke Wischnewski completed Germany's podium sweep, with Geisenberger claiming silver in 1:29.163, while Wischnewski won bronze in 1:29.320.

Americans Megan Sweeny (Suffield, Conn.) and Ashley Walden (Westborough, Mass.) completed their two runs in seventh and 20th place, respectively. Sweeney made her senior World Cup debut in 1:29.866, while Walden stopped the clock in 1:31.487.

Niccum and Joye, who teamed together during the off-season, clocked fifth and fourth place heats en route to a two-run time of 1:28.358. "Dan and I were pretty confident heading into this race," noted Niccum. "I think that we got a lot more confidence with yesterday's Nations Cup win."

Austria's Andreas Linger and Wolfgang Linger won their fifth-career World Cup race and ended a 24-race victory drought. The 2003 world champions slid past the 18-sled field in a time of 1:28.131, just .036 seconds in front of Germany's Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch, who won silver in 1:28.167. Italy's Gerhard Plankensteiner and Oswald Haselrieder rounded out the top-three sleds with a two-run bronze medal time of 1:28.232.

USA Luge's Matt Mortensen (Huntington Station, N.Y.) and Preston Griffall (Salt Lake City, Utah) finished eighth in their first together and clocked a combined time of 1:28.791, while Mark Grimmette (Muskegon, Mich.) and Brian Martin (Palo Alto, Calif.) were 14th in 1:29.514.