Geisenberger wins luge gold medal

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) ― Finally, Olympic gold for Germany’s Natalie Geisenberger.

Finally, Olympic anything for Erin Hamlin and the United States.

Leaving no doubt she absolutely rules her sport, Geisenberger won the women’s luge gold medal Tuesday at the Sochi Games ― posting the second-largest victory margin in Olympic history.

Her final time was 3 minutes, 19.768 seconds, or 1.139 seconds better than silver medalist German teammate Tatjana Huefner, the 2010 champion.

“Runs one, two and three were nearly perfect,’’ Geisenberger said. “The last one was a little bit ... wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough.”

Volosozhar-Trankov in lead

SOCHI, Russia (AP) ― Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov took the lead Tuesday in the Olympic pairs competition after the short program, putting them in position to win another figure skating gold medal for host Russia. The reigning world champions scored 84.17 points, 4.53 ahead of Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany. Fellow Russians Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov were third.

Volosozhar and Trankov skated a sharp short program Thursday to help the Russians win gold in the first Olympic team event. They were even better Tuesday as they sought to restore the country’s dominance in pairs.