In men’s doubles, Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa were the top U.S. sled, placing eighth. Their teammates, Zack DiGregorio and Sean Hollander finished ninth.

Ashley Farquharson, Emily Sweeney and Summer Britcher placed fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, in the women’s singles race. Meanwhile, Tucker West placed seventh in the men’s World Cup competition, his best result of the season.

While it was smooth sailing for men’s singles, less than half of the relay teams finished the race in a wild and unpredictable competition. The United States were among those teams who did not finish.

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Women’s doubles

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Forgan, of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and Kirkby, of Lake Placid, sat in third place after the first of two heats following problems midway through their run. The duo bounced back with a track record of 42.106 seconds, and took the silver medal in 1 minute, 24.599 seconds.

“We’re really happy with our runs today,” Forgan said. “(On the) first run, we had a few places that we wanted to improve upon, so we definitely did in the second run. We had a long and difficult week of training, so we’re really happy to be able to throw down on race day.”

“It was a difficult week here,” Kirkby said. “It was really testing our limits if we could actually do the sport, but clearly, we can! We just threw down a track record, which means out of all of the runs where women’s doubles (have taken place), we pulled the fastest run here in Latvia Sigulda.”

Forgan and Kirkby had the two fastest start times of the race, coming within .011 of their own start record, established March of 2024.

Selina Egle and Lara Kipp of Austria won the race in 1:24.483. Latvians Marta Robezniece and Kitija Bogdanova placed third in 1:24.894.

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Women’s singles

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Farquharson, of Park City, Utah, showed blinding speed, but small mistakes kept her off the podium. She held the first and second spots at various points in both heats. She finished fifth in 1:23.424.

Much like her teammate Farquharson, Sweeney, of Lake Placid, also showed speed, but minor mistakes chipped away at the two-time Olympian’s time. Her final run was the second fastest of the heat. Her finish time was 1:23.434 in sixth place.

Five-time World Cup winner and three-time Olympian Summer Britcher of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania has not had an easy relationship with the Sigulda track in the past. That was not the case today, as she posted two runs that were virtually mistake-free. Her seventh-place finish time was 1:23.444.

World Cup newcomer Emma Erickson of Park City, Utah was 22nd in 42.415. As she was outside the top 20 in the first heat, she did not qualify for the second run.

Latvia’s Elina Bota won the race, the third victory in her career, with a time of 1:23.280. Germany’s Merle Fraebel was second in 1:23.344, and Austrian Lisa Schulte was third in 1:23.345.

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Men’s doubles

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Reigning Junior World Champions Mueller of Brookfield, Wisconsin, and Haugsjaa, of Framingham, Massachusetts, continue to impress in their rookie season on the World Cup tour. The duo placed eighth in a time of 1:24.222, despite problems exiting curve 14 during their second run. 2022 Olympians DiGregorio, of Medway, Massachusetts, and Hollander, of Lake Placid, who also battled curve 14, were ninth in 1:24.417.

Race winners Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany tied the record for World Cup victories in men’s doubles luge, with 54. Their time was 1:23.045. Martins Bots and Roberts Plume of Latvia were second in 1:23.146, with Austrians Yannick Mueller and Armin Frauscher third in 1:23.337.

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Men’s singles

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West, of Lake Placid, seemed to find some of the speed he has been searching for thus far this season. His start, normally one of the fastest in the world, has been slightly hampered by shoulder issues. But West found that speed today, navigating the 16 corners of the Sigulda track with a two-run combined time of 1:35.798.

2022 Olympian Jonny Gustafson of Massena had problems in curves 11 and 15, finishing in 26th place with a one run time of 49.161. Only the top 20 athletes advance to take a second run. Aidan Mueller of West Islip was 28th in 49.433.

Austrian Nico Gleirscher won the race in 1:35.199. Kristers Aparjods of Latvia was second in 1:35.383, while Germany’s Max Langenhan was third with a time of 1:35.480.

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Team relay

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One of the wildest team relay competitions in the history of the event ended in a rather predictable manner: with Germany on top. It was the 50th relay victory for the Germans. More teams failed to finish the race than complete it, including powerhouse nations like Latvia, Italy, and the United States.

The United States team featured Sweeney, the men’s doubles team of DiGregorio and Hollander, West and the women’s doubles team of Forgan and Kirkby. Sweeney was first up with a solid run but had issues within 30 feet of the touch pad. Her hand narrowly missed the pad, and the team was disqualified. However, team leaders for the U.S. protested an illegal start procedure issue which resulted in re-run. On the re-run, Sweeney was fastest of all the women’s singles sleds, but a mistake in curve 14 caused her to crash and not finish, resulting in a DNF for Team USA.

The Latvian’s fate was almost identical to that of the United States, with a missed paddle, a re-run due to technical issues, followed by a crash on the re-run. The heartbreak for the heavily favored home team was palatable. Teams from Italy and Poland also had crashes and did not finish.

The podium featured Germany on top, Austria in second and a jubilant Ukrainian team in third.