Ukraine wins 1st World Cup luge medal since ’09

Germany won a World Cup luge team relay Sunday, with Austria finishing second. That's not exactly breaking news. Those nations have the top two luge programs in the world.

The surprise was Ukraine finished third -- and how the war-torn nation got there.

Ukraine won its first World Cup luge medal in more than 16 years. The country's relay team -- singles sliders Yulianna Tunytska and Andriy Mandziy, along with Ihor Hoi and Nazarii Kachmar on one doubles sled and Olena Stetskiy and Oleksandra Mokh on the other -- finished third in a race at Sigulda, Latvia.

"It's amazing," Tunytska said, holding a bouquet of flowers and blowing kisses on the award podium afterward.

The medal came in a very unconventional way. There were seven teams in the relay, but four didn't finish. Ukraine finished almost four seconds behind Germany's winning time -- a lifetime in luge, a sport where races are often decided by hundredths or even thousandths of a second -- but out of the three finishers, it was third-fastest.

That meant bronze.