Mortensen, Matheson headed to WC luge

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — Joe Mortensen has won the final raceoff to secure a spot on the U.S. men’s singles luge team for the World Cup tour.

Mortensen, of Huntington Station, N.Y., beat Trent Matheson, of Bountiful, Utah, on Tuesday’s final heat. Matheson, an alternate at the Vancouver Olympics, scored the top times in the first two heats at Mount Van Hoevenberg and also made the World Cup team.

The other two members of the men’s team are four-time Olympian Bengt Walden, of Lake Placid, and Chris Mazdzer, of Saranac Lake, N.Y.

Mortensen had a combined time of 1 minute, 47.498 seconds; Matheson was timed in 1:47.720; and Robby Huerbin, of Pittsburgh, clocked 1:47.956 in finishing third in each heat.

Each athlete attempted three runs over three days and totaled their two better attempts, although Mortensen backed himself into a corner with a flip near the bottom of the 20-curve track on his second run.

The nine-race World Cup season begins Nov. 27-28 in Igls, Austria.