Tucker West begins one of his runs during the USA Luge start championships on Friday. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

LAKE PLACID — The nation’s top luge athletes will gather here at the USA Luge refrigerated indoor start training complex on Friday, Sept. 19. At stake will be the annual start championship title. The competitions will take place at the USA Luge headquarters, 57 Church Street in Lake Placid, at 4 p.m.

The public is invited to attend, free of charge. That day, USA Luge is also offering its weekly Tours and Rides program, which begins at 2 p.m. For a $20 donation, participants get a tour of the facility and workshops, plus a chance to take a ride down the start ramp. All proceeds support the athletes and programs of USA Luge.

Three-time Olympian Tucker West of Lake Placid will look to add a record 13th title to his resume. Consistently one of the top-ranked athletes in the world in starts, West will face competition from 2022 Olympian Jonny Gustafson of Massena, Hunter Harris of East Fairfield, Vermont and Matt Greiner of Park City, Utah. Logan Barnes of Clarkesville, Tennessee, a member of the Junior National Team, will also compete.

Summer Britcher of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania, a three-time Olympian, has hopes of claiming her eighth title since 2015. Standing in her way will be two-time Olympian Emily Fischnaller of Lake Placid, who last took the title in 2021, with Park City, Utah natives Ashley Farquharson and Emma Erickson looking for their first wins.

Women’s doubles is expected to feature the reigning 2024 World Championship silver medalists, Chevonne Forgan of Chelmsford, Massachusetts and Sophia Kirkby of Ray Brook, who will be competing for the start title with Maya Chan of Chicago, Illinois and Sophia Gordon of Sussex, Wisconsin.

Reigning men’s doubles start champions Marcus Mueller of Brookfield, Wisconsin and Ansel Haugsjaa of Acton, Massachusetts, will look to defend their title from Zack DiGregorio of Medway, Massachusetts and Sean Hollander of Lake Placid and the duo of Dana Kellogg of Chesterfield, Massachusetts and Frank Ike of Lititz, Pennsylvania.

The start championship format will consist of three heats, with the winners earning the lowest combined times. The first two heats will be traditional starts and the third will be a reaction start, as used in the team relay event.

Held annually in late summer and early fall, the competition marks the countdown to the teams’ return to the ice in preparation for the FIL World Cup series.

The first World Cup of the 2025-26 season will take place in Innsbruck, Austria, Dec. 5 to 7. The circuit will then come to the U.S. for World Cup races in Park City, Utah, from Dec. 11 to 13, and Lake Placid from Dec. 18 to 20. The 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games will take place Feb. 7 to 12, 2026.