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Date: January 6, 2024
Contact: Lauren Howe, Phone 978-400-3036,
Six top ten finishes for USA Luge in Winterberg World Cup
Farquharson holds third in overall standings, Sweeney comes back in second heat
WINTERBERG, Germany—Following the holiday break, the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup kicked-off the new year in Winterberg, located in the Hochsauerland region of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirkby led the U.S. team, placing fifth in women’s doubles while teammates Maya Chan and Reannyn Weiler finished in sixth. The U.S. women’s singles team was led by Ashley Farquharson, who placed sixth, while Emily Sweeney finished the day in eighth place after coming back from a challenging first run. Both U.S. men’s doubles teams of Zack DiGregorio/Sean Hollander and Dana Kellogg/Frank Ike placed in the top 10.
Across all disciplines, it was Austria that took two of the three available gold medals today at the German track.
Women’s Singles
2022 Olympian Farquharson, one of the team’s most consistent athletes of the early World Cup campaign, crossed the finish line in one minute 51.936 seconds, securing sixth place. Three-time Olympian Sweeney was in 14th place following mistakes in her first heat. Sweeney (Lake Placid, N.Y.) fought back with the third fastest run of the second heat and finished in eighth with a time of 1:52.154.
“It’s a bit of a shoulda, woulda, coulda situation for me,” said Sweeney. “Clearly, I had a much better second run, but my first run had too many big mistakes to come back from. I have a lot more work to do before Worlds [World Championships], but it’s nice to see the speed is possible.”
World Championships will be held in Altenberg, Germany later this month.
2023 Lake Placid World Cup bronze medalist Summer Britcher (Glen Rock, Pa.) had problems in the lower portion of the course during her second heat, culminating with a minor crash after crossing the finish line. She finished 13th in 1:52.376. Junior National Team member Emma Erickson (Park City, Utah) was 24th with a time of 1:53.957.
Austria’s Madeleine Egle won her second gold medal of the season with a time of 1:51.392. Germany’s Julia Taubitz took silver in 1:51.421, with Egle’s teammate Hannah Prock earning her second World Cup career medal with the bronze in 1:51.697.
Taubitz remains the World Cup overall leader with 370 points followed by Egle with 315. Farquharson is third with 241 and Sweeney is in fifth with 214, while Britcher is seventh with 156 and Erickson is 26th with 38.
Women’s Doubles
Forgan (Chelmsford, Mass.)/Kirkby (Ray Brook, N.Y.), who earned a bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships in Winterberg, placed fifth in 1:27.474, while teammates Chan (Chicago, Ill.)/Weiler (Whitesboro, N.Y.) placed sixth with a time of 1:27.534.
Germany’s Jessica Degenhardt/Cheyenne Rosenthal secured their second victory of the season with a time of 1:28.924. The duo also won the German Championships, which took place on December 29, 2023, in Altenberg, Germany. Italy’s Andrea Voetter/Marion Oberhofer placed second in 1:27.156. Although Austria’s Selina Egle/Lara Kipp secured a track record in the second heat of today’s race with a time of 43.496, they finished the day in third in 1:27.175. Forgan/Kirkby’s start record, set in February of last year, was not broken today.
Egle/Kipp remain the overall World Cup women’s doubles leaders with 325 points. Degenhardt/Rosenthal move into second with 310, bumping Germany’s Dajana Eitberger and Saskia Schimer into third with 300 points. Forgan/Kirkby are fifth with 260 while teammates Chan/Weiler are sixth with 200.
Men’s Doubles
DiGregorio (Medway, Mass.)/Hollander (Lake Placid, N.Y.) battled small mistakes throughout their two runs, and crashed when they crossed the finish line in the second heat. They walked away from the incident and ended the day in eighth place with a time of 1:26.657. Teammates Kellogg (Chesterfield, Mass.)/Ike (Lititz, Pa.), who placed third in yesterday’s qualifying race, landed in tenth place in 1:26.807.
Team USA planned on bringing up the Junior National Team duo of Marcus Mueller (Brookfield, Wisc.)/Ansel Haugsjaa (Framingham, Mass.) for their World Cup debut, but Mueller has been recovering from an illness.
The gold medal went to Austria’s Thomas Gatt/Martin Schoepf with a time of 1:26.145. Germany’s Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt placed second in 1:26.211, and in third place were Hannes Orlamuender/Paul Gubitz of Germany in 1:26.236. Wendl/Arlt set a new track record of 42.940 in the second heat. The previous record was held by Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken of Germany. Eggert now serves as a coach for Team USA.
Wendl/Arlt lead the World Cup overall points with 310. Austria’s Thomas Steu/Wolfgang Kindl are in second with 301, and Latvia’s Martins Bots/Roberts Plume are third with 265. DiGregorio/Hollander dropped from fourth to sixth with 222, and Kellogg/Ike improved to 13th place from 15th with 106.
For more results on the 2023-2024 World Cup season, visit https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/eberspaecher-world-cup-28
EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup action continues in Winterberg tomorrow, January 7, with men’s singles and team relay. The World Championships are slated to take place in Altenberg, Germany on January 27-28, 2024. To live stream the races and to view archived competitions, please visit the FIL’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FILLuge_Channel. The entire World Cup and World Championship season can be accessed from this portal.
For more information on the Fastest Sport on Ice®, log on to www.usaluge.org.
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