Luge-Triple challenge of turn four could decide medals in three sports

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 5 : Turn four of the new Cortina Olympic sliding track - named Labirinti (labyrinths) and consisting of three high-speed, back to back curves - has already been identified as the crucial part of the course for luge, skeleton and bobsleigh.

Athletes in all three sports have had runs on the track this week, with the male lugers the first to post official practice times on Wednesday.

American luger Jonathan Gustafson explained the difficulties. "Each track has one or two spots that are out to get you a little bit and I would say turn four is probably one of them for us," he said after his first two training runs.

"It's about how each athlete deals with the flow of the track, how well positioned they are and how well they can adapt to g-forces.

"You know pretty quickly when you've got things right or wrong and there are definitely levels to wrong and right.

"If you come out skidding and hitting a wall obviously that's going to be the mistake, but as we get closer to the race, it'll be a little more fine-tuned."

Austria's Wolfgang Kindl, who has hopes of a medal in three luge races, was among the fastest on Wednesday's runs and had the same feeling.

"Curve four, curve 11, it's hard to be fast and accurate and I had some problems today with the set-up," he told Reuters.

"It's really hard to have a really straight line out, but that's going to be the key for the races for sure."

Germany's luge world champion Julia Taubitz was also quick to identify "Labirinti" after her first taste of the course in November.

"Turn four is a crucial point for us, where you have to hit it just right," she said. "The curve rhythm is very nice, and since the ice construction was very good, there were hardly any bumps.

"We always