WINTER OLYMPICS / SLED PREVIEW : Look to ’92 Because Nothing’s New

LILLEHAMMER, Norway — On the high-speed luge and bobsled runs, a G-force still stands for Germany.

Much has changed and much has not since the 1992 Winter Olympics at Albertville, France.

The United States, which will be seeking its first medal in luge and first since 1956 in bobsled, has had promising moments on the World Cup circuit in the last two years but faces tough sledding to overcome the German, Swiss and Austrian domination of these sports.

It would not be a surprise, in fact, if the ’92 winners were to repeat here. The two-year turnaround is not likely to produce significant turnover, though the U.S. competitors are not without hope.

A brief look:

LUGE

Singles--Wendel Suckow became the first American to win the World Championship in 1992-93, and Duncan Kennedy finished second overall on the 1993-94 World Cup circuit, losing the lead when he was ninth in the last of the six races.

Suckow and Kennedy obviously can challenge, but under Olympic pressure, they face the specter of Germany’s Georg Hackl, the ’92 champion, and Austria’s Markus Prock, the silver medalist who won his fourth consecutive World Cup title when Kennedy faltered.

Doubles--Germany’s Stefan Krausse and Jan Behrendt will attempt to repeat their ’92 victory, having won the World Cup title as a tuneup. Gordy Sheer and Chris Thorpe of the United States were a promising fourth in World Cup after finishing 12th in the ’92 Games.

Austrian brothers Tobias and Markus Schiegl, and the Italian team of Hans Raffl and Norbert Huber, third in ‘92, are among the formidable obstacles to a U.S. medal.

Women’s--Cammy Myler of the United States, fifth in ’92 and plagued by a series of shoulder injuries, scored a stunning upset in the final World Cup race on Jan. 30 to tie for fifth in the standings. She was the fourth woman to win on this season’s World Cup circuit, indicating a wide-open Olympics.

Austrian sisters Doris and Angelika Neuner, 1-2 in ‘92, are back, but the three medal favorites are Germany’s Gabi Kohlisch and Jana Bode, who were 1-2 in the World Cup, and Italy’s Gerda Weissensteiner.

BOBSLED

Brian Shimer had a spectacular World Cup campaign in 1992-93, winning the overall four-man title and combined two-man and four-man honors as well, a U.S. first. Shimer and crew, however, were disappointingly short of that this winter--plagued by injuries, questions of attitude and lack of familiarity with a new sled.

Coach Joey Kilburn was confident that a month’s encampment at the 1988 Olympic facility in Calgary, Canada--the U.S. team was scheduled to leave for Norway today--had restored his team. Given a competitive push, Shimer has proven he can drive with the best, and the U.S.-made Bo-Dyn sled has turned in record runs in previous time trials on the Olympic track, but driver and sled are up against some bobsled legends here.

Among them are Switzerland’s Gustav Weder, who won the Olympic two-man event in ‘92, was third in four-man; Germany’s Wolfgang Hoppe, 35, who has won medals in four-man competition in three Olympics, and Austria’s Hubert Schosser, who won this winter’s overall four-man World Cup title.