The United States team relay squad on Sunday consisted of three-time Olympian Emily Sweeney, first-year team Dana Kellogg and Frank Ike, three-time Olympian Tucker West, and two-time World Championships bronze medalists Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby.

In women’s singles, Sweeney placed fifth with a comeback in the second heat after a tough first run. On Saturday, Forgan and Kirkby were the top-ranked U.S. sled in the World Cup luge event, finishing in fourth place, just .005 seconds from the podium.

The U.S. men’s doubles team of Kellogg and Ike had a career-best sixth place in their first season together. West placed seventh in a wild, weather-impacted men’s singles race.

Team relay

Heavy downpours and high winds created a scenario that gave early starters an advantage in the team relay. Romania used an early start number and relatively good ice, along with four clean runs from Ioana-Corina Buzatoiu, the men’s duo of Tudor-Stefan Handaric and Sebastian Motzca, Valentin Cretu and the women’s duo of Raluca Stramaturaru and Mihaela-Carmen Manolescu. They clocked a run time of three minutes 16.301 seconds.

Team Latvia, the third squad to compete, moved ahead of the Romanians with a time of 3:14.445. Elina Vitola, the men’s duo of Martins Bots and Roberts Plume, Kristers Aparjods and the women’s duo of Anda Upite and Kitija Bogdanova used near-perfect runs for what would become the race-winning heat.

Sweeney, of Lake Placid, who was first out the start gate for the United States, had a clean run and hit the pad, sending Kellogg, of Chesterfield, Massachusetts, and Ike, of Lititz, Pennsylvania, to continue the work and set the tone for West. West, of Ridgefield, Connecticut had the fastest start of the relay before opening the gate for Forgan of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and Kirkby. The duo crossed the finish line and hit the pad hanging over the track with a time of 3:15.448.

Teams from Austria and Germany followed the U.S squad, but a combination of errors and poor track conditions made it impossible to catch the Latvian, United States and Romanian teams, who finished first, second and third, respectively.

It was the first-ever World Cup relay medal for Romania.

“We just raced in the team relay, and we finished in second place,” West said. “We are really excited, and we had four strong runs. It’s been tough weather conditions this week, but we got through it, and we are excited to be racing this relay with (the women’s doubles this year). It’s been a lot of fun.”

Despite issues in today’s relay, Team Germany leads the World Cup overall standings with 340 points. Team Austria is in second with 330, and Team USA is third with 285.

Women’s doubles

It was a nail-biting fight for the podium, with just .066 seconds between the second to sixth place finishers.

2024 World Championships bronze medalists Forgan and Kirkby just narrowly missed the bronze despite having the fastest start in the second heat. They finished in fourth place with a time of one minute 25:552.

“It was a really close race today here in Altenberg,” Forgan said. “We finished .005 off the podium, and I think it was .014 off second (place) so it was really close. Our second run was definitely a lot better than our first, so we are glad to finish on a good note.”

“Like Chevonne said, it was a close race,” Kirkby added. “After the first run, the top six were all within .0089 and then it was just a close race.”

U.S. teammates Maya Chan and Reannyn Weiler hit the wall and skid out of the 360-degree Krisel corner on their first run and had problems in curve 13 in the second heat. Chan, of Chicago, Illinois and Weiler, of Whitesboro, placed 11th in 1:29.883.

Italy’s Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer won gold in 1:25.337. Latvia’s Anda Upite and Kitija Bogdanova set a start record with a time of 5.910 and took the silver medal in 1:25.538. Germany’s Dajana Eitberger and Saskia Schirmer placed third in 1:25.548.

Voetter and Oberhofer lead the overall World Cup standings with 470 points, followed by Germany’s Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal in second with 465, and Eitberger and Schirmer in third with 416. Forgan and Kirkby are in fifth with 390 points and Chan and Weiler in sixth with 284.

Men’s doubles

Coming off their World Championships silver medal in team relay last weekend, Kellogg and Ike continued their upward trajectory for the U.S team.

“We were sixth place here in Altenberg and it’s our top finish,” Kellogg said. “The race went pretty good, and we had some small mistakes that we can clean up for tomorrow, but overall, it went really well.”

“Like Dana said, it’s our top finish and I’m really pleased with it,” Ike added. “I’m hoping we can clean it up tomorrow. Getting another medal in the team relay would be awesome, so hoping we can bring it home.”

Kellogg and Ike finished with a time of 1:25.362.

2022 Olympians Zack DiGregorio of Medway, Massachussetts and Sean Hollander of Lake Placid placed 11th with a time of 1:25.541.

The gold medal went to Thomas Gatt and Martin Schoepf of Austria in 1:24.991, with the silver going to their teammates Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl in 1:24.999. In third was Italy’s Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner in 1:25.116, marking their first podium appearance of the season.

Steu and Kindl continue to lead the World Cup overall points chase with 485. Martins Bots and Roberts Plume of Latvia are second with 410, and Germany’s Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt are in third with 405 points.

DiGregorio and Hollander dropped from sixth to eighth with 274, and Kellogg and Ike jumped two spots into 11th with 198.

Women’s singles

The wild weather played an even more significant role in the women’s competition, which saw Sweeney move from 26th place after the first heat to fifth place. She struggled at the start of her first run but responded with the second-fastest start of the day in the second heat. She finished with a time of 1:48.322.

2024 Lake Placid World Cup bronze medalist and three-time Olympian Summer Britcher of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania could not find speed in the first heat and hit the wall out of curve 14 on her second run. She finished in 10th with a time of 1:48.478. 2022 Olympian Ashley Farquharson of Park City, Utah skid into curve 15 in the first heat, but with a cleaner second run landed in 11th place in 1:48.501.

Race winner Julia Taubitz of Germany also made a big move after an error in her first heat. She went from 22nd to take the gold in 1:47.971. This eclipsed the amazing move from 21st to first by her teammate Max Langenhan in yesterday’s men’s competition. Latvia’s Elina Vitola took the silver medal with a time of 1:48.120, and in third was Austria’s Lisa Schulte with a time of 1:48.268.

Taubitz leads the overall World Cup points with 555, followed by Austria’s Madeleine Egle in second with 457, and Germany’s Anna Berreiter in third with 357. Farquharson is in fourth with 335 points, Sweeney is sixth with 319, and Britcher is eighth with 269.

Men’s singles

One of the biggest comebacks in recent memory was made by Germany’s Max Langenhan. He was in 21st place following a major mistake in curve nine in the first heat. With reverse start order based on first heat rankings for run number two, the 2024 World Champion was able to get on the track much earlier, giving him an advantage as ice conditions deteriorated later in the competition. Langenhan’s season has been near-perfect, winning all World Cup races this season except for the Igls, Austria competition. He took the gold medal in 1:51.162.

The silver medal went to Austria’s David Gleirscher with a time of 1:51.283, with Latvia’s Kristers Aparjods in third in 1:51.289.

Three-time Olympian West led the U.S. men today, finishing in seventh place with a time of 1:51.559. As usual, West of Ridgefield, Connecticut set the fastest start times in both heats. Despite slow conditions, he was just .037 off the start record established in 2015. 2022 Olympian Jonny Gustafson of Massena placed 11th in 1:51.791. Hunter Harris of East Fairfield, Vermont continued his debut World Cup season, placing 18th in 1:52.261.

Langenhan remains the World Cup points leader with 570. Austria’s Jonas Mueller is in second with 419, with teammate Nico Gleirscher in third with 373. Gustafson is ninth with 242, West in 10th with 236, and Harris in 18th with 110.