USA Luge’s Ashley Farquharson shows off her Olympic bronze medal on Thursday at the organization's headquarters in Lake Placid. (Enterprise — Parker O'Brien)

LAKE PLACID – As USA Luge’s Ashley Farquharson looks down at her own Olympic bronze medal, she can’t shake the feeling that it’s actually hers.

It’s a feeling that likely will never go away.

Farquharson, who turned 27 on Monday, won bronze at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Italy a little more than a month ago. In doing so, she became only the second American woman to win an Olympic medal in luge.

But for the Park City, Utah native, who now calls Lake Placid home, nothing has changed a whole lot – apart from carrying around the nearly-one-pound bronze medal.

Well, that’s not necessarily true. There’s constant excitement and pride around her. Even while Farquharson was being interviewed at the USA Luge headquarters on Thursday, a staff member stopped her to let her know how proud she was.

People from near and far have reached out to her. Old friends and new ones. It’s something she wasn’t expecting.

“(But) I think it just really cements that this has been part of my life and a goal of mine for so long that people who haven’t seen me in 10 years are like, ‘She did it,'” Farquharson said.

And she really did do it.

Since luge became an Olympic sport in 1964, the United States has won a total of seven medals at the Games in the sport, including Farquharson. Most of those have come from the doubles side, but singles racing has won the last three. In other words, it’s a bit of a rarity to see an American on the podium. Germany has dominated luge for years, as it has with the other sliding sports – bobsled and skeleton.

But Farquharson finally broke through for USA Luge … in the same year she snapped her own medal curse.

Farquharson competed in 54 International Luge Federation World Cup races over the course of six years. Though she was close – and even reached the podium in team relay events – she never did so on the singles side.

That was until this year, when she earned bronze on her home track in Park City in December, then followed that up with a silver a week later in Lake Placid. But even that wasn’t enough for her.

“Hopefully, I can see some similar results on the non-home tracks,” Farquharson told the Enterprise in December.

She didn’t have to hold on to that hope for very long.

“I have three medals now, and one of them’s an Olympic,” Farquharson said, with a smile.

–

‘An out-of-body experience’

–

Farquharson made a point to ignore her phone before the 2026 Olympics. She wanted to just focus on her race and ignore any outside noise.

A smart move for a sport that requires plenty of mental focus. But ahead of her final day of racing, Farquharson got a text that she still thinks about.

It came from the only other American women’s singles luge athlete to medal at the Olympics, Erin Hamlin.

“I know you’re not going to see this, but just let her fly,” the 2014 bronze medalist texted Farquharson, ahead of her final Olympics women’s singles event.

Farquharson did just that, pushing herself into a top-three spot ahead of the fourth and final run.

Sitting at the top of the Cortina Sliding Centre track on Feb. 10, awaiting her final heat, Farquharson knew that all she needed was just one clean run, and an Olympic medal was hers. But that’s a lot easier said than done.

It can be mental warfare for an athlete dealing with that kind of pressure. But Farquharson kept her mind clear, letting things just go with the flow.

“At the handles, I was thinking about how many times I had beaten Verena Hofer and I could do it again,” she joked.

And, of course, she beat out the Italian again, this time by 0.063 seconds through four runs.

As Farquharson saw her time, she immediately began to cry. Before eventually being mobbed by her teammates and coaching staff.

“I seriously, I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience and everyone else being as excited for me as I was was really special,” she said. “Then it was just kind of a blur because we had to do everything so quickly and to get down to the podium.”

There was a drug test and quick media interviews before being forced to change into her podium outfit. Farquharson had little time to process everything.

“All my teammates were helping me put on my podium outfit, and I was really worried about all my race stuff making it back to the village, because I had to leave it,” she said. “So I was like, ‘Jonny (Gustafson), can you put everything in my bag?’ And he was like, “‘Yep,’ while he was tying my shoes and someone else was putting my jacket on me.”

At times, her teammates were just as excited for her as they would be if they had won a medal.

“We’re like a family,” Farquharson said. “We see each other every day. We’re always training together, we’re always traveling together. We’re roommates, like, we’re always there and just having that village, so to speak, around you, of people that are just as driven, just as dedicated and disciplined, is always gonna push you further than you could go by yourself.”

The camaraderie seemed to work on this group of USA Luge athletes. All six of the returning Olympians improved on their result from the 2022 Games by at least three spots.

“My teammates are a real driving force behind why the U.S. is (now) such a competitive nation,” Farquharson said.

–

Starting luge

–

Having grown up in Utah, the Olympics have always been at the forefront of Farquharson’s mind.

It helped having lived out there during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. But she was just 2 years old when those Games came around, and has no recollection of them.

But in a weird way, those Olympics helped kick-start her career.

A few years after the Games rolled through the “Crossroads of the West,” the state wanted to keep some of that Olympic spirit rolling. Her after-school program started offering ways to let kids try out some of these sports at the venues through a non-profit called the Youth Sports Alliance.

Of course, Farquharson had to test out some of these winter sports – downhill and Nordic skiing, as well as figure skating – but one stood out more than the rest.

That, of course was luge.

It’s a sport where athletes slide feet-first on a small sled, lying on their backs and navigating icy tracks at speeds exceeding 80 mph. For most people, it’s madness; but for Farquharson, it became a passion.

It also helped that her older brother, Jake, was competing in the sport. The two eventually made USA Luge’s Junior National team.

“(The Youth Sports Alliance) also continued to support these athletes if they chose to pursue these sports,” Farquharson said. “So I got so much financial aid from them, and it really allowed me to do this full-time.”

But as her brother left the sport for other passions, Farquharson had to make a similar decision a few years later … either go to college or move east to Lake Placid to continue her luge career.

“My family was just kind of like, ‘You can go to college whenever you want, do what feels right,'” Farquharson said.

And it’s safe to say that she made the right choice.

–

Going forward

–

After winning bronze, Farquharson spent the next week in Italy strolling around and enjoying the rest of the Olympics.

She watched the other sliding events, curling and even the women’s hockey gold medal game.

“And everyone was buying us free stuff,” Farquharson said.”Like, it doesn’t really get much better than that.”

Even after getting back to the United States, she’s experienced some of that love.

Two weeks ago, she attended the ECAC women’s hockey championship in Lake Placid with USA Luge teammate Chevonne Forgan and was met with applause on the jumbotron. Just this week, she and some of their other teammates were in Las Vegas for the Pennzoil 400 NASCAR race – one of USA Luge’s sponsors – signing autographs for fans.

Farquharson is just relishing in the moment now, but when next season rolls around, she’s aiming for more medals.

“I seriously have nothing to prove and nothing to lose,” she said. “So I just am really gonna be looking for more speed.”