USA Luge

Erin Hamlin has been on two Olympic teams and won the 2009 World Luge Championship. The 24 year old also creates economic impact.

Even as Hamlin won her second straight Norton National Luge Championship Saturday on Mount Van Hoevenberg, unbeknownst to her, she was generating business in this Olympic village as 30 hotel rooms were booked by her hometown supporters, who made the three-hour drive from Remsen, N.Y.

The top racer in the American program did not disappoint as she posted the two fastest times over the three-quarters of a mile, 15-curve track to defeat Emily Sweeney, of Suffield, Conn. by .24 of a second.

Hamlin’s times of 44.883 and 44.698 seconds totaled one minute, 29.581 seconds on a day that broke warm and humid, before some clearing conditions entered the Adirondacks. The weather change sped up the course at the Olympic Sports Complex in the second leg.

“The conditions were basically the same, but we had a better track in the second run. The hardness of the ice was the same,” said Hamlin. “It’s good to end the season on this race. This off-season I will adjust some of my training since our trainer at the Olympic Training Center, Jason Hartman, left. But my starts have improved a lot, and I have to credit him and the program that was put together for that.”

Hamlin finished first in the Norton National Seeding Race and will now prepare for a return trip to Whistler, British Columbia in mid-March to assist the International Luge Federation and the track management to evaluate some proposed starting points for future competitions. (read more)

ESPN

Lake Placid, N.Y. — Erin Hamlin finished the season by winning her fourth straight National Luge Championship (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011), while Chris Mazdzer won his second in a row.

Hamlin, who won the World Championship two years ago in Lake Placid and competed in the 2010 Olympics, had the fastest times of 44.883 and 44.698 seconds for a combined 1 minute, 29.581 seconds over the three-quarters of a mile track in Lake Placid, N.Y. (read more)

When the world luge championships came to Lake Placid in 2009, Erin Hamlin’s confidence was soaring.

It has been an up-and-down (read more)

An Olympic champion and a world champion are among the local athletes who are currently competing or gearing (read more)

24-year-old sets out on new season, looks to defend world title
UniversalSports.com

At the 2009 Luge World Championships in Lake Placid, American Erin Hamlin snapped a streak of 99 consecutive races won by German women. In January, she’ll get her chance to defend that crown.

A German woman has won every race since Hamlin’s shocker, including the 2010 Olympics, so a title defense is just as daunting a task. But the 24-year-old is a contender to land on the podium every week, and she checked in with us via email before the season begins in Austria.

The Olympics came at the end of your World Cup season last year. Did you travel afterward?
Yes I did actually. I went to Kauai with a couple of other athletes. It was a short trip because I had to be back in Lake Placid for Nationals, but still worth it! I had never been to Hawaii and now I can’t wait to go back. I will as soon as I can!

How do you typically spend your off seasons?
I generally spend a few weeks at home in Remsen, NY to get away from the athlete/sports world for a little while. I still train, but often in different ways. Mainly just stay active, and then in late April or May I begin training pretty hard. That runs through the entire summer, which is normally spent in Lake Placid, NY. My trainer, Jason Hartman, has been there and we have our start-training facility, so it is the most logical place for me to be.

Is there less pressure going into this season because it’s not an Olympic year?

I would say the atmosphere brings less pressure, but mainly because there is a lot less hype. But since this will be the first World Championships since I won in Lake Placid I definitely feel like I have to perform at a level that would represent that. With our completely new program (coaches, etc.) it is easy to push that aside, though, and just be excited to race and see what this new chapter will offer. (read more)