Team USA’s Ashley Farquharson competes in the 2023 FIL luge World Cup in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

ALTENBERG, Germany –The FIL Luge World Championships kicked off the three-day racing weekend with the sprint competitions on Friday. The United States had two close calls with the podium, placing Ashley Farquharson and the duo of Maya Chan/Reannyn Weiler fourth in the women’s singles and doubles competitions, respectively.

World Championship sprint races feature the top 15 athletes in each discipline based on their finish in the preliminary qualifying race, held earlier in the day. The sprint features men’s and women’s singles, plus men’s and women’s doubles. The clock starts at a lower point on the track than traditional races, emphasizing driving skill over speed at the start in this single heat race.

It was a surprising day of racing, as four different countries topped the podium across all disciplines, with athletes from Latvia, Austria, Germany, and Italy winning gold medals.

In women’s doubles, Chan/Weiler were in third place until the final sled in the heat bumped them into fourth. This was their best-ever result in sprint World Championships, finishing an agonizing .015 from the bronze medal, with a time of 28.482.

“This is just a really good finish for us, and I feel like we have had good sections on tracks, but this is the first time we’ve been able to put it all together and have one good run so I’m pretty happy,” said Chan.

“This is our highest finish in sprint, and this is our highest finish all season,” said Weiler. “If you’ve been watching [the races this season], we’ve been sixth place every race, every sprint, so we are fourth today.”

Chevonne Forgan/Sophie Kirkby finished in sixth with a time of 28.595.

The Italian team of Andrea Voetter/Marion Oberhofer won the gold with a time of 28.234. Latvia took silver and bronze with Anda Upite/Zane Kaluma clocking a 28.438 run. Their teammates Marta Robezniece/Kitija Bogdanova were third in 28.467. Robezniece/Bogdanova secured the track record during the qualifying race with a time of 28.234.

Jessica Degenhardt/Cheyenne Rosenthal hit the wall four times into the krisel and finished in 14th place with a time of 32.532.

In women’s singles, Farquharson continued her strong season, missing the podium by just .02 seconds keeping her from the bronze medal. Farquharson placed fourth in 37.833. Her teammate Summer Britcher placed in the top 10, taking eighth in 37.934.

“It was a really crazy day for sprint world championships with a little bit rough start to the morning with the crazy qualifying run, but I’m glad I made it in,” said Farquharson, who finished in fourth four times this season. “I apparently love getting fourth but I’m looking to break that streak on Sunday.”

Emily Sweeney did not qualify. Sweeney’s sled and Farquharson’s sleds were mistakenly switched by the coaching staff and entered control for inspection. Once a sled is controlled for a race, it cannot be changed. In this instance, Sweeney’s sled was entered for Farquharson’s and vice-versa. Sweeney finished 17th in the qualification race, out of the top 15, while Farquharson managed to qualify for the race in 15th position.

Germany’s Julia Taubitz won gold with a time of 37.702. The surprises of the day were Switzerland’s Natalie Maag who took silver in 37.774 and Latvia’s Elina Vitola in third in 37.813. A track record was set by Austria’s Lisa Schulte with 37.502 in the qualifying race. Schulte finished the sprint in tenth place with a time of 37.946.

The men’s doubles race proved to be exciting right down to the final seconds as Latvia’s Martins Bots/Roberts Plume won the gold medal with just .032 separating them from Austria’s Thomas Steu/Wolfgang Kindl of Austria who took silver. Bots/Plume, who were ranked 12th in the preliminary run, made an equipment change for the race as track conditions deteriorated over time. They crossed the finish line in 27.863. Steu/Kindl took second in 27.895, and their teammates Thomas Gatt/Martin Schoepf were in third with a time of 27.973.

The favorites going into today’s race were Germany’s Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt, who have nine World Championship career sprint medals, the most in the discipline’s history. The three-time Olympic champions finished in a surprising seventh place after mistakes throughout the run.

Both teams representing the United States had problems in the race. Zack DiGregorio/Sean Hollander had a rough start and hit a wall out of the first corner. The duo placed 13th with a time of 28.295. Teammates Dana Kellogg/Frank Ike showed much promise for a strong run based on their performance in the qualifying race but bumped out of curve nine. Kellogg/Ike were 14th in 28.568.

In men’s singles, David Gleirscher of Austria won the men’s singles gold medal in a time of 33.001, beating Germany’s Max Langenhan who took silver in 33.071. Latvia’s Kristers Aparjods was in third in 33.124, bumping medal favorite Felix Loch of Germany into fourth with at time of 33.164.

Tucker West placed ninth in 33.397. Teammate and 2022 Olympian Jonathan Gustafson finished in 11th, with a time of 33.452. Gustafson had an issue with securing the neck strap but still finished the race.

For more results on the 2023-2024 World Cup season, visitfil-luge.org/en/multimedia/fil-world-championships-10.

FIL World Championship action continues this weekend in Altenberg, Germany. Today, women’s doubles, men’s singles, and men’s doubles will compete, followed by women’s singles and the team relay on Sunday.

To live stream the races, visit the FIL’s YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/@FILLuge_Channel. The entire World Cup season can be accessed from this portal.