Date: November 30, 2024
Contact: Lauren Howe, Phone 978-400-3036,
USA Luge kicks off World Cup season with two medals
Gold for Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby and silver for Emily Sweeney, both set track records
LILLEHAMMER, Norway—The United States kicked off the 2024-25 FIL World Cup season with pair of medals in the women’s doubles and singles events. Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby won gold, while Emily Sweeney took silver. Both set track records.
Forgan (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Kirkby (Ray Brook, N.Y.) took their first World Cup victory in one minute, 34.929 seconds. Their first heat time of 47.406 established the track record.
“We’re so excited,” said Forgan, who won bronze at the 2024 World Championships in January with Kirkby. “We just put [down] two solid, consistent runs and we’re just so happy.”
“We’re very happy with our performance,” said an exuberant Kirkby. “On our first run, we got a track record, which means of all the runs that have ever happened here in women’s doubles, we pulled the fastest run ever!”
It was also a bittersweet moment for Kirkby, who lost her father earlier this year. In a post-race interview with the FIL, she was overwhelmed with emotion.
“This brings me tears of joy and a little bit of sadness. He would have been so happy to see this,” added Kirkby.
Germans Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal were second in 1:34.946, while Marta Robezniece and Kitija Bogdanova of Latvia were third in 1:35.419.
Sweeney’s (Lake Placid, N.Y.) record-setting second heat time of 46.867 was enough to propel her from fourth place after the first heat to the silver medal position in the women’s singles competition. Her two-run combined time was 1:33.990.
“Sophia and Chevonne have a first (place), I have a second (place), so we’re just keeping it going,” said Sweeney, a two-time Olympian and 2019 World Championship bronze medalist. “It’s just fun to be racing again. The pre-season was long, and this is a good way to kick it off. My parents are here, I got a track record, so what could be better? Well, [placing] first actually, but we’ll work on that!”
Julia Taubitz of Germany was the winner in 1:33.898, while Austrian Lisa Schulte placed third in 1:34.050. Three-time Olympian Summer Britcher (Glen Rock, Pa.), who won the 2018 edition of the Lillehammer race, was sixth in 1:34.321. 2022 Olympian Ashley Farquharson (Park City, Utah) was eighth in 1:34.350, while Emma Erickson (Park City, Utah) placed 29th with a one-run time of 51.607. Only the top 20 advance to the second heat.
The U.S. men’s doubles teams will be celebrating the speed they displayed this weekend. In the second heat, Marcus Mueller (Brookfield, Wisc.) and Ansel Haugsjaa (Framingham, Mass.) posted the fastest run. In the first heat, Zack DiGregorio (Medway, Mass.) and Sean Hollander (Lake Placid, N.Y.) sat in fifth place, just .011 from the podium. Dana Kellogg (Chesterfield, Mass.) and Frank Ike (Lititz, Pa.) placed eighth, their fourth top ten finish in their second season together.
Like many other contenders in the field today, however, the three sleds from the United States were plagued by inconsistency. Kellogg and Ike made minor mistakes out of curve 13 in both heats. They finished eighth in 1:34.419. 2022 Olympians DiGregorio and Hollander, who won last year’s season opener in Lake Placid, were bit by the exit of curve 13 on their second run, clocking in at 1:34.635 in tenth place. Mueller and Haugsjaa, reigning Junior World Champions on this track last season, crashed in their first run, placing 18th in 1:40.431.
Racing resumes tomorrow with the men’s singles competition and the debut of the mixed events in singles and doubles. The action kicks off at 9:30 AM CET. All competitions can be seen live and streamed via the FIL YouTube channel here: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/live-streaming-artificial-track.
For photographs of today’s medal-winning races, please contact Lauren Howe at .
For more information on the Fastest Sport on Ice®, log on to www.usaluge.org
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