WHISTLER, British Columbia — Team USA took the bronze medal in the EBERSPCHER Luge World Cup relay at the Whistler Sliding Center, site of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. The race was the final event of the international racing circuit before the holiday break.

The U.S. team consisted of Emily Sweeney, Zack DiGregorio/Sean Hollander, Tucker West, and the women’s doubles team of Chevonne Forgan/Sophie Kirkby. They finished just under a tenth of a second behind the silver medal-winning team from Austria.

In addition to the World Cup, the 13th FIL America-Pacific Championships were held as a race-within-a-race format during the women’s singles competition. The championships recognize the top three athletes from North America, South America and Australia.

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Team relay

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For the first time in FIL Luge World Cup history, women’s doubles were a part of the team relay. The relay occurs without interruption, featuring four sleds and six athletes. It starts with women’s singles, then men’s doubles, men’s singles, and finally the women’s doubles. Sleds cannot leave the start handles until the previous sled hits a pad at the bottom of the track and opens a gate.

Sweeney, of Lake Placid, was the first sled to hit the ice for the United States, with DiGregorio of Medway, Massachusetts, and Hollander, of Lake Placid, finding speed after a difficult week at the Whistler course. West, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, who had the fastest time out of the gate, struggled in curves 15/16, so it was up to Forgan, of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and Kirkby, of Ray Brook, to race clean. The duo hit the pad with a time of two minutes 49.311 seconds, enough to win the bronze medal.

“We didn’t know what to expect with four slides going,” West said. “It’s always hard to get three sleds down with clean runs, so to get a fourth in there is tough. My run itself wasn’t anything special. (There were) definitely some mistakes, but I think Team USA as a whole has a lot of speed and a lot of potential so we’re all very excited for the year to come.”

“We all had a lot of, I’d say, missed opportunities this weekend,” Sweeney said. “But we also came through when it mattered today in team relay so I’m happy we could do that. And I’m just excited to see what the team does for the rest of the year.”

It was a strong weekend for the Germans, with nine medals, including gold across all disciplines. The relay squad, led by Julia Taubitz, the duo of Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt, Max Langenhan and the women’s doubles team of Jessica Degenhardt/Cheyenne Rosenthal stood at the top of the podium with a time of 2:48.655.

Madeleine Egle, the doubles teams of Thomas Gatt/Martin Schpf, Jonas Mueller and Selina Egle/Lara Kipp, took the silver for Team Austria in 2:49.215 Team Germany is the overall World Cup relay leader with 100 points, followed by Team Austria with 85 points, and Team USA with 70 points.

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Women’s singles

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After sitting in the silver medal position following the first heat, the three-time Olympian Sweeney hit the right wall out of curve 16 and landed in fourth place with a time of 1:18.221, resulting in a German sweep of the podium. 2022 Olympian Ashley Farquharson of Park City, Utah placed seventh in 1:18.238.

Last week’s World Cup bronze medalist Summer Britcher of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania skidded out of curve 16 and hit the right wall on her second run. She finished the day in 12th place with a time of 1:18.413.

Sophia Gordon made her USA Luge debut on the World Cup circuit; she had two clean runs and placed 25th at 1:19.655. Gordon, of Sussex, Wisconsin, placed 13th at last weekend’s Whistler Junior World Cup.

The America-Pacific Championships were won by Sweeney, with Farquharson in second place. Taking bronze was Canada’s Embyr-Lee Susko in a time of 1:18.404.

The German podium sweep was led by Taubitz with a time of 1:18.066, with Anna Berreiter in second in 1:18.177, and Merle Fraebel third in 1:18.179.

Taubitz remains the World Cup overall leader with 285 points followed by Austria’s Madeleine Egle in second with 215. Farquharson is third with 191, Sweeney in fourth with 172, Britcher in sixth with 157 and Gordon in 29th with 16 points.

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Men’s singles

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USA Luge was led by West, who placed eighth with a time of 1:41.054, followed by teammate Jonny Gustafson of Massena in ninth place with a time of 1:41.057.

Hunter Harris of East Fairfield, Vermont placed 19th with a time of 1:42.855. Aidan Mueller of Lake Placid participated in his first World Cup but failed to finish the race following a crash during the first heat. He walked away from the incident.

For the ninth consecutive time, the gold medal went to Max Langenhan of Germany with a time of 1:40.093, Austria’s Jonas Mueller took silver in 1:40.348, and Latvia’s Kristers Aparjods was third with a time of 1:40.572.

The America-Pacific Championships was won by West, with the silver going to Gustafson, and the bronze to Australia’s Alexander Ferlazzo in 1:41.280. Harris placed fifth.

Langenhan remains the current overall World Cup leader with 300 points. In second place is Austria’s Jonas Mueller, with 230, and third is Nico Gleirscherof, Austria, with 200. One point separates West and Gustafson, with West in seventh place with 134 and Gustafson in eighth with 133. Harris moved up one place from 15th last week to 14th this week with 74 points. 2018 Olympic silver medalist Chris Mazdzer, who retired from competitive luge following last weekend’s World Cup in Lake Placid, finished with 62 points. Mueller is in 30th place with 12 points.

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Women’s doubles

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USA Luge women’s doubles raced strong, but it wasn’t enough to secure a podium in Whistler. Forgan and Kirkby placed fourth in 1:18.514. The duo was in a position to win a medal but had problems in the final corner. Teammates Maya Chan of Chicago, Illinois and Reanynn Weiler of Whitesboro, placed sixth with a time of 1:18.768.

Germany took the top two spots on the podium. Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal won the gold in 1:18.371, and Dajana Eitberger and Saskia Schirmer placed second with a time of 1:18.451. In third were Italy’s Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer with a time of 1:18.466.

Forgan/Kirkby won the America-Pacific Championships, with Chan/Weiler in second and Canada’s Embyr-Lee Susko and Beattie Podulsky in third in 1:18.920.

Austria’s Selina Egle and Lara Kippremain the overall World Cup women’s doubles leaders with 255 points, followed by Eitberger/Schirmer with 240, and Degenhardt/Rosenthal with 210. Forgan/Kirkby holds fourth with 205, and Chan/Weiler remains in sixth place with 150 points.

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Men’s doubles

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The 2023 Lake Placid World Cup winners DiGregorio and Hollander had two inconsistent runs and landed in 13th place with a time of 1:18.089.

Marcus Mueller of Brookfield, Wisconsin and Ansel Haugsjaa of Framingham, Massachusetts finished their first World Cup race by placing 17th in 1:18.478. The duo won the Junior World Cup held in Whistler one week ago. The doubles team of Dana Kellogg of Chesterfield, Massachusetts and Frank Ike of Lititz, Pennsylvania crashed during training earlier in the week and did not compete.

The gold medal went to Germany’s Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt with a time of 1:17.300. Austria’s Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl placed second in 1:17.378, and in third were Germany’s Hannes Orlamuender and Paul Gubitz with a time of 1:17.405.

Canada’s Devin Wardrope and Cole Zajaanski placed first in the America-Pacific Championships with a time of 1:18.046. In second place were DiGregorio/Hollander, with Mueller/Haugsjaa in third.

Steu/Kindl continues to lead the World Cup overall points with 255. Wendl/Arlt are in second with 225, with Latvia’s Martins Bots and Roberts Plume in third with 210. DiGregorio/Hollander dropped from third to fourth with 172 points, and Kellogg/Ike are in 15th with 70. Mueller/Haugsjaa are in 20th place with 24 points.