X-O Manowar-Sponsored U.S. Luge Team Gets Its First-Ever Individual Olympic Medal

Erin Hamlin made U.S. Olympic history today, clinching the first-ever American medal in the [...]

By Russ Burlingame

luge

Erin Hamlin made U.S. Olympic history today, clinching the first-ever American medal in the individual luge. The U.S. Luge Team, of course, are drawing on the power of X-O Manowar's armor (or at least the support of comic book publisher Valiant Entertainment) to help power their way to the U.S. Olympics. As part of the promotional partnership, the Luge Team have worn special X-O Manowar-inspired uniforms designed by comics artist Patrick Zircher in a number of recent tournaments - although not in the actual Olympic Games. Hamlin was one of a number of U.S. Luge Team members who were featured on a recent variant cover for Unity #1, last year's top-selling non-premiere publisher title through Diamond Comics Distributors.

unity-luge-cover

German Natalie Geisenberger won the women's luge gold medal at the Sochi Games on Tuesday, posting the second-largest victory margin in Olympic history. Her final time was 3 minutes and 19.768 seconds--which was 1.139 seconds better than German teammate Tatjana Huefner, the 2010 gold medalist, who finished second. Huefner, for her part, bested Hamlin by only about a quarter of a second and Halmin was less than half a second ahead of the fourth place finisher, to put Geisenberger's margin in perspective. Hamlin's first American singles  medal comes 50 years after luge first appeared at the games, and after a number of fourth-place finishes that have led the team to hear the same "when will it happen" questions after seemingly every event. Every single time since 2007, in the year's final race (either the world championships or the Olympics), either Geisenberger, Huefner or Hamlin was crowned champion, but today's event was the first time the three have shared the Olympic podium.

Trending Now: