CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Germany's expected assault on the luge medals in Cortina looked to be stuttering in early practice but they showed their class and experience on their final runs on Friday when they laid down the gauntlet to the Austrian and Italian pretenders.
Since the sport joined the Olympic programme in 1964 Germany, in various guises, have taken 38 of the 52 available luge golds, including 11 of the last 12.
Four years ago in Beijing they had a clean sweep of four golds - along with two silvers - and have won the men's singles in three of the last four Games.
In the early rounds of practice during the week the German trio were generally off the pace, though Austrian Wolfgang Kindl did warn not to read too much into the initial runs, saying that some athletes, including the Germans, were holding something back.
Kindl, silver medallist four years ago, and Italy's Dominik Fischnaller, who got bronze in Beijing, were consistently among the fastest performers in the first four practice runs on Wednesday and Thursday.
Felix Loch, who won gold in 2010 and 2014 but just missed out on a medal in the last two Games, was the only one of the German trio who looked to be on pace, but his two team mates also came to the party at just the right time in the sixth and final practice run on Friday.
Double world champion Max Langenhan took something of a radical high approach from the start of his final run and it paid off in spades when he clocked 52.936 seconds for the only sub-53 second run of the week.
World Cup leader Loch and Timon Grancagnolo were not far behind, with Kindl and Kristers Aparjods - hoping to secure a second-ever medal in the event for Latvia 20 years after their first - also impressive on their final runs.
Fischnaller is hoping to continue Italy's strong tradition in the event that has brought them three golds, two silver and four bronze medals and he has been consistently in the top three during the week.
He was the last man down in the final run on Friday, clocking the fifth-fastest time of the 25 athletes.
Friday sees the end of any experimentation, however, as the action starts with the first two competition runs on Saturday, followed by two more on Sunday, when the aggregate of the four times will decide the medals.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Toby Davis)
