Augusta’s Julia Clukey finished 17th overall Saturday in the women’s singles final at the 45th International Luge Federation World Championships in Sigulda, Latvia.
Clukey, a 2010 U.S. Olympic team member, finished her two runs in a combined time of 1 minute, 25.378 seconds.
Natalie Geisenberger of Germany won the gold medal, speeding to a track record of 42.014 seconds in the first leg despite warmer than usual conditions and then concluding with a second run of 42.128 for a combined 1 minute, 24.142 seconds.
Sochi Olympic bronze medalist Erin Hamlin of Remsen, New York, led the U.S. contingent with a fourth-place finish. The three-time Olympian finished just 0.04 from the bronze medal on a track that has technical similarities to her home course in Lake Placid, New York. Her two-run time was 1:24.509.
Fellow American Summer Britcher, racing in her first World Championship, rallied to ninth place overall in 1:24.760, while Emily Sweeney of Suffield, Connecticut, was inching her way toward the top five in the opening heat before errors in the 10-11 turn combination plummeted her down the list. She finished 22nd.
