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INTO THE FAST LANE: Germany's Silke Kraushaar wins the luge by two-thousandths of a second

American male lugers might have thought themselves in an even stranger waking dream when, in an event that has ever seen only German, Austrian, Italian and Russian medalists, they abruptly took a silver--and a bronze. Indeed, second-place Chris Thorpe and Gordy Sheer came within 22/1,000ths of a second of the mighty Germans, who had collected a gold, a silver and a bronze in the previous three Olympics. Zipping down the track in their lemon yellow suits, the Americans (who recorded with their two teammates a theme song titled Arctic Evil Knievels) pumped their fists as they saw their 0-for-27 Olympic-medal streak end.

Before the Games, someone had asked future bronzers Brian Martin and Mark Grimmette if they knew they would be competing on Friday the 13th. Martin smiled, "It's a lucky day."