For the fourth consecutive World Cup event, the athletes of USA Luge stood on the podium. Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirkby won the bronze in the women’s doubles competition at the home of the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Winter Games.  

Ashley Farquharson finished fourth in the women’s singles race and holds third in the overall World Cup standings.  

The USA Luge men’s doubles team of Dana Kellogg/Frank Ike secured their best-ever result, placing eighth. This result cements their first appearance in the relay scheduled for Sunday, a first for the duo who previously raced with different partners over the past seasons. 

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The team’s achievements come after a challenging week, with the loss of USA Luge coach and marketing manager Dmitry Feld on Jan. 10.  

Women’s Doubles 

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Forgan (Chelmsford, Mass.)/Kirkby (Ray Brook, N.Y.) made a series of small mistakes in their first run, ranking sixth. The duo came back with the second fastest time in the next heat, securing a bronze medal in one minute 20.384 seconds. Forgan and Kirkby, who set the two fastest start times of the competition, earned their second bronze medal of the season.  

“We got third in our race today here in Igls, which is very exciting,” said Forgan. “We started off with a few problems in our first run, but we managed to clean it up and sort of climb back up onto the podium.” 

Kirkby added, “Like Chevonne said, here in Igls, Austria, we just got third. [I’m] very happy because we were in sixth after the first run, but we pulled a solid second run and we were able to climb up into third place.” 

Teammates Maya Chan (Chicago, Ill.) and Reannyn Weiler (Whitesboro, N.Y.) placed sixth with at time of 1:20.553. They have placed sixth in every competition this season.  

Germany’s Jessica Degenhardt/Cheyenne Rosenthal secured their third gold medal of the season with a time of 1:20.178. Italy’s Andrea Voetter/Marion Oberhofer placed second in 1:20.192. 

Degenhardt/Rosenthal took the overall World Cup lead with 410 points. Voetter/Oberhofer are in second with 370, and Austria’s Selina Egle/Lara Kipp move from first to third with 364. Forgan/Kirkby are fifth with 330 while teammates Chan/Weiler are sixth with 250.  

Men’s Doubles 

After winning the qualifying race to kick-off the weekend in Igls on Friday, Kellogg (Chesterfield, Mass.)/Ike (Lititz, Pa.), had consistent runs in both heats Saturday, finishing the day with a best-ever result in eighth with a time of 1:19.389. 

“I’m proud of our runs today,” said Kellogg. “We had some mistakes to clean up for tomorrow, but super excited to be in relay.” 

“With a personal best in both the track times and World Cup result, I’m super happy with our runs today,” added Ike. “[I’m] even more excited about getting to participate in my first relay tomorrow.” 

Igls was not kind to the 2023 Lake Placid World Cup gold medalists Zack DiGregorio/Sean Hollander. The duo struggled in both runs at the start, and their problems continued along the way with skids and bumps. DiGregorio (Medway, Mass.)/Hollander (Lake Placid, N.Y.) placed 23^rd in 1:20.892.  

Men’s doubles has proven to be the most unpredictable of all disciplines thus far in the 2023-24 World Cup campaign, with five different winners representing four nations. Austria’s Thomas Steu/Wolfgang Kindl secured a new track record on their first run with a time of 39.344. Despite a slow start, the duo found speed at the bottom of the track and won the gold with a time of 1:18.690. Their teammates and 2023 Winterberg World Cup gold medalists Thomas Gatt and Martin Schoepf were in the lead toward the end of their second heat but experienced a crash going into the finish.  

Latvia’s Martins Bots and Roberts Plume placed second in 1:18.862 and Germany’s Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt were third in 1:18.986.  

Steu/Kindl take the lead in the World Cup overall points with 401, with Wendl/Arlt bumping to second with 380 points. In third is Bots/Plume with 350. DiGregorio/Hollander remain in sixth with 240, and Kellogg/Ike stay in 13^th with 148. 

Women’s Singles 

USA Luge women took three top 10 finishes, the most of any country in the top 10.  

2022 Olympian Farquharson (Park City, Utah) led the U.S. women finishing in fourth place in 1:19.477. Farquharson continues to race strong this season and remains the third ranked woman in the world.  

“I’m really happy with the speed shown today,” said Farquharson. “[There were] some small mistakes in the first run, but I was able to clean it up in run two.” 

Farquharson’s second heat time of 39.657 ranked third.  

Three-time Olympian Emily Sweeney (Lake Placid, N.Y.), who won the silver medal on this track in 2022, placed sixth with a time of 1:19.602. Teammate and 2023 Lake Placid World Cup bronze medalist Summer Britcher (Glen Rock, Pa.) placed just behind Sweeney in seventh in 1:19.678. Emma Erickson (Park City, Utah) was 22^nd with a time of 1:20.453. 

Just .024 seconds separated the top two spots on the podium. Austria’s Madeleine Egle, who owns the track record, won her third gold medal of the season, with a time of 1:19.200. Germany’s Julia Taubitz won silver in 1:19.224, with Taubitz’s teammate Anna Berreiter taking the bronze in 1:19.439.  

Taubitz remains the World Cup overall leader with 455 points followed by Egle with 415. Farquharson is third with 301 and Sweeney in fifth with 264, while Britcher is in seventh with 233 and Erickson moves up to 21^st place from 26^th with 57. 

For more results on the 2023-2024 World Cup season, visit fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/eberspaecher-world-cup-31. 

EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup action continues in Igls tomorrow, January 14, with men’s singles and team relay. The circuit will pause next weekend as the teams prepare for the World Championships 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.