Canada's Alex Gough suffers whiplash in World Cup luge event

Alex Gough was dealt some unfortunate luck at a World Cup luge event in Sigulda, Latvia on Saturday.

The Canadian's helmet strap broke in the second last corner of her first run, causing her head to fall back and hit the ice. As a result, Gough suffered whiplash.

Despite completing the second run, Gough finished 13th on the day and dropped to fourth in the overall standings behind Erin Hamlin of the United States.

"It was a bit of tough luck for Alex with the neck strap breaking in the highest pressure corner," said team head coach Wolfgang Staudinger.

"We are happy for her to finish where she did because it guarantees her in a seeded spot at [the] World Championships. She was consistent and quick in training all week, but it was just bad luck today. It happens."

It was a German 1-2 finish as Natalie Geisenberger took her third win of the season, winning in 1:23.485 over two runs, 0.028 ahead of veteran Tatjana Huefner. Geisenberger extended her standings lead to 27 points over Huefner.

Meanwhile, Calgary's Kim McRae clocked a career-best performance of one minute, 23.845 seconds to finish in fifth place. 

"I'm definitely happy with this finish. We are in Sigulda so anything can happen for anyone here," said McRae.

"It is one of the more technical tracks we slide on. It is fun and challenging, but you need two clean runs here to be in the mix. I was able to do that today for the most part."​

Rough day for Snith, Walker

It was a rough day for Canada's doubles team of Tristan Walker and Justin Snith who finished in 18th place in men's doubles. 

The Calgary-based pair sat in eighth place after the first run, but mistake in the bottom portion of the track dropped them well back into the standings.

"We just can't make silly mistakes and that is what happened with the doubles today," said Staudinger.

"The reality is if we could be more consistent we would be right in the mix, but this is reflective of our capability at this time. We are training the same way as we are racing and we must change this and become more consistent."

Germany's Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken set a track record on both runs to win the doubles race and took a big step toward the overall title.

The Germans won in a combined time of one minute, 23.113 seconds.

Oskars Gudramovics and Peteris Kalnins of Latvia were second, 0.363 off the lead on their home track, with Italians Ludwig Rieder and Patrick Rastner 0.695 off the pace in third.