Germany Wins First Olympic Luge Team Relay

Feb. 13, 2014— -- Germany won the first ever Olympic luge team relay, beating Russia by 1.03 seconds.

The new competition involved sending a single female, a single male and a doubles pair down the 16-curve track one after another. As soon as one team member finished the course, he or she would reach up and slap a touch pad to open the gate for the next team member to fly down the track.

The German team did it in 2 minutes and 45.649 seconds.

Germany's team was a favorite to win the relay. The country's Natalie Geisenberger and Felix Loch both won gold in their singles luge competitions earlier this week. German luge doubles team Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt won gold in their event as well.

The U.S. luge relay team placed sixth in the competition.