LAKE PLACID — Two-time Junior World Championship medalist Matt Greiner celebrated his final day as a junior luge athlete on Saturday by winning the Norton Junior National Championship title in Lake Placid. In the men’s doubles event, Junior World Champions Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa were the winners, while Sophia Gordon won her second title in the wome’s singles event.

The week leading up to Saturday’s race saw rapid temperature swings, creating havoc for the track crew at the Olympic Sports Complex. Athletes faced an abbreviated training schedule, altering the number of entries in the men’s field.

In a sport where races are often won and lost by thousandths of a second, Greiner’s margin was a dominant performance. The Park City, Utah native won with a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 44.156 seconds. Aidan Mueller of West Islip was second with 1:46.205, followed by Logan Barnes of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in third with a time of 1:46.290.

“(This was) my last Junior race. I think it went pretty well,” said Greiner, who missed all of training due to illness. “I was fighting a bit of a cold, but I made it up the start height today and put down two pretty clean runs, so I’m happy.”

The open doubles category saw Mueller of Brookfield, Wisconsin and Haugsjaa of Framingham, Massachusetts take their third Norton title in 1:28.854 with a Greiner-like lead over the rest of the field. They remain eligible to compete on the Junior circuit but will likely spend some time with the National Team next season.

“The track was super slow (due to weather) and we were racing from a lower start height, so definitely a super relaxing race for us,” Haugsjaa said.

“We had good starts, put down two good runs, so overall it good to finish the season with,” Mueller said.

Barnes and Gavin Davis of Berwick, Pennsylvania were second in 1:31.592, followed by 2024 Youth Olympians Sadie Martin of Vermontville and Haidyn Bunker of West Farmington, Ohio were third in 1:32.398.

The women’s race was the closest of the day, with Sophia Gordon of Sussex, Wisconsin taking gold in 1:32.570. Emma Erickson of Park City, Utah was second, just .077 away from Gordon with a time of 1:32.647. Macey Schomaker of Park City, Utah was third in 1:33.893.

“It was a good race. I put down two solid runs,” Gordon said. “I would say I raced to the best of my potential this week.”

With extreme temperature fluctuations causing canceled training sessions this week, a special men’s open class was created at a lower starting point. The coaching staff wanted to allow those who did not have enough time to safely train from the Junior men’s start with an opportunity to compete. That race was won by Gabriel Desauteles of Georgia, Vermont in 1:34.585. Andrew Robertson of South Jordan, Utah was second in 1:36.267, followed by third place finisher Riley Dombard of Downers Grove, Illinois in 1:38.576.

The Norton Youth National Championships will take place April 6 at the Olympic Sports Complex in Lake Placid.