Britcher upsets luge World Cup favourite Geisenberger

The reigning Olympic, World and European champion was beaten to the punch by the United States' Summer Britcher in the first of the weekend's two events in Norway but, regardless of what her fellow German Tatjane Huefner does between now and the end of the series, a third-place finish on Sunday will mean the 29-year-old cannot be caught.

Britcher, 23, claimed her first event win of the season, following up her second-placed finish behind compatriot Emily Sweeney in Winterberg last November.

Runs of 47.672 and 47.594 seconds, totalling an overall time of 1:35.266, proved enough for the American slider to narrowly get the better of Geisenberger, who clocked in just 0.033 seconds slower in 1:35.299.

Julia Taubitz (1:35.529), another German, was third, while Huefner, Geisenberger's closest challenger in the overall standings, was fourth-fastest in 1:35.544.

Russia's Viktoriia Demchenko (1:35.559) and Romania's Raluca Stramaturaru (1:35.643) made up the rest of the top six.

Geisenberger has finished third at both sprint events of the 2017-18 campaign so far, in Winterberg and Lake Placid.