In the men’s singles race, West placed 10th.

This was the sixth of nine World Cup events in the 2023-24 season.

On Saturday, the U.S. team placed four sleds in the top 10, two of which came from the women’s doubles teams. Chan and Weiler placed sixth, as they have done in all but one of this season’s races. Sweeney of Lake Placid led the United States women in eighth place, while Zack DiGregorio and Sean Hollander were the top U.S. sled in the men’s doubles race in ninth.

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Team USA’s Maya Chan, front, and Reannyn Weiler slide to the finish line during Sunday’s team relay event at the FIL Luge World Cup in Oberhof, Germany. (Provided photo — FIL/Mareks Galinovskis)

Team relay

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Sweeney, of Lake Placid, was first out of the gate for the U.S. and laid down a consistent run, setting the stage for DiGregorio of Medway, Massachusetts and Hollander of Lake Placid. West of Ridgefield, Connecticut was next, with the fastest reaction time in the men’s discipline, followed by Chan of Chicago, Illinois and Weiler of Whitesboro. The team placed fifth with a time of 3 minutes, 13.996 seconds.

It was a fight to the finish between Latvia and Germany, and it all came down to the final sled to determine the gold.

Team Germany was led by relay newcomers Merle Fraebel, the men’s duo of Hannes Orlamuender and Paul Gubitz, Max Langenhan and the women’s duo of Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal. Germany was behind Latvia until Degenhardt and Rosenthal found speed and clinched the gold medal at the finish line, with a time of 3:12.942.

Kendija Aparjode, the men’s duo of Martins Bots and Roberts Plume, Kristers Aparjods and the women’s duo of Anda Upite and Kitija Bogdanova took the silver for Latvia in 3:13.092. Team Austria, led by Madeleine Egle, the men’s duo of Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl, David Gleirscher and the women’s duo of Selina Egle and Lara Kipp, placed third with a time of 3:13.230.

Team Germany continues to lead the World Cup overall standings with 440 points. Team Austria is second with 400, and Team USA remains third with 340.

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Women’s singles

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Sweeney led the U.S. women on Saturday after challenging ice conditions in the first run. Sweeney couldn’t find speed in the first heat, resulting in a 25th-place finish. She used the early start in the second heat to her advantage and found a full second, bumping her up 17 places to finish eighth with a time of 1:25.445. 2022 Olympian Ashley Farquharson of Park City, Utah placed 13th with a time of 1:25.502, while teammate Summer Britcher of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania skid in both heats and placed 19th with a time of 1:25.886.

It was a golden day for Germany’s Merle Fraebel, who earned her first career World Cup victory with a time of 1:24.956. Austria’s Madeleine Egle was second in 1:35.080, and Germany’s Julia Taubitz in 1:25.108.

Taubitz continues to lead the overall World Cup points with 625, followed by Egle in second with 542 and Germany’s Anna Berreiter in third with 417. Farquharson remains in fourth with 365 points, Sweeney moves sixth to fifth with 361, and Britcher bumps down a spot to ninth with 291.

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Men’s singles

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Once again, it was a wild and rainy race with inconsistent ice conditions for the world’s top athletes on Sunday. Traditionally, top-seeded athletes start at the end of the order. The second heat is run in reverse order of finish. Warm conditions have become so common, that some top-ranked racers have started to use various first-heat strategies to slow their speed. These tactics, including dragging feet in curves and straight sections, are deployed in the first heat, with the goal of getting an early start number for the second heat.

Latvia’s Aparjods, who started near the top of the list on the second run after placing 17th, won the gold medal with a time of 1:27.263. Langenhan of Germany won the silver medal with a time of 1:27.305. Both he and Austria’s David Gleirscher were the gambling men in the competition. They scrubbed speed by dropping their feet in the straightaway and in the middle of the final curve on their first run. Gleirscher was in 23rd place, and posted the fastest run of the second heat, taking the bronze in 1:27.381.

The U.S. team had a mixed bag of consistent runs, fast starts and a few small mistakes. Three-time Olympian West had the fastest start in the second heat and placed 10th with a time of 1:27.704. 2022 Olympian Johnny Gustafson of Massena slid in just behind West, placing 11th in 1:27.736. Hunter Harris of East Fairfield, Vermont finished in 21st with a time of 1:28.119.

Langenhan remains the World Cup points leader with 655. Austria’s Jonas Mueller is in second with 479, and Aparjods is third with 470. Gustafson remains in ninth with 276, West in 10th with 272, and Harris in 18th with 130.

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Women’s doubles

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The 2024 U23 World Championships silver medalists Chan and Weiler placed sixth with a time of 1:27.090 in the first-ever women’s doubles race to start from the same point as the men’s event on Saturday.

“We had a pretty good race (Saturday) with a couple of small mistakes,” Weiler said. “Overall, we’re pretty happy with our performance considering this is our first time up at the real doubles start here in Oberhof.”

The 2024 World Championships bronze medalists Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby had the fastest start on the second heat, but a mistake forced them to go too high in curve 10. Forgan, of Chelmsford, Massachusetts and Kirkby, of Ray Brook, placed seventh in 1:27.210.

Germany’s Degenhardt and Rosenthal won their 10th World Cup race in 1:26.244 and secured a start record with a time of 7.690 and a track record in 43.049. Italy’s Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer took the silver medal in 1:26.277, with Austria’s Selina Egle and Kipp in third in 1:26.365.

Just 10 points separate the top two overall World Cup leaders. Degenhardt and Rosenthal are in first with 565 points, followed by Voetter and Oberhofer in second with 555. Egle and Kipp are third with 484. Forgan and Kirkby are fifth with 436 and Chan and Weiler are sixth with 334.

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Men’s doubles

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As the first discipline to hit the ice, the conditions deteriorated as warmer temperatures resulted in slower race times across the roster in the second heat.

The 2023 Lake Placid World Cup gold medalists DiGregorio and Hollander had two strong, consistent runs following a few difficult weeks. The duo found speed at the bottom of the track on their first run, but ice conditions and small mistakes slowed them down in the second heat. They placed ninth in a time of 1:24.555.

Fresh off their silver medal at last weekend’s team relay in Altenberg, U.S. teammates Dana Kellogg and Frank Ike cleared the track with clean runs but couldn’t find speed. Kellogg of Chesterfield, Massachusetts and Ike, of Lititz, Pennsylvania, placed 17th in 1:25.234.

The gold medal went to Austria’s Steu and Kindl with a time of 1:23.928. It was the duos second World Cup victory. Germany’s Orlamuender and Gubitz earned the silver in 1:24.051 and their teammates Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt placed third in 1:24.118.

Steu and Kindl continue to lead the World Cup overall points with 586. Wendl and Arlt are in second with 475, and Latvia’s Bots and Plume are third with 470. DiGregorio and Hollander remain in eighth with 313, and Kellogg and Ike are 11th with 222.