Gustafson takes fifth in men’s race; West sets start record
LILLEHAMMER, Norway – USA Luge added to its collection of medals at the first World Cup event of the season. The addition of the mixed event to the competition schedule gave the United States singles team of Jonny Gustafson and Emily Sweeney the silver. The doubles teams of Marcus Mueller/Ansel Haugsjaa and Chevonne Forgan/Sophia Kirkby took the bronze. In the men’s singles competition, Gustafson tied his career-best result by finishing fifth, while Tucker West set another start record.
The mixed event featured two sleds; a man and a woman or a men’s doubles sled and a women’s doubles sled. In the singles sled competition, the male athlete takes his run like a normal trip down the track, but instead of the clock stopping at the traditional finish line, he strikes a pad hanging over the track, which opens the gate for the female athlete. The clock stops when she strikes the pad at the bottom of the track. Doubles follow the same format.
The mixed event is like the relay event but features fewer sleds and utilizes the traditional starting points for men, women and doubles. Nations who do not have enough athletes to field a team are allowed to join for the mixed event, while larger nations can field up to two sleds.
Mixed Singles
The United States entered two teams in the race. Gustafson (Massena, N.Y.) began the heat for USA 1 from the men’s start, which is situated a few curves above the women’s start. His run was solid, but not as good as his runs earlier in the day in the men’s race. He hit the pad with a deficit of nearly half a second to the leader. Sweeney (Lake Placid, N.Y.) responded with the fastest reaction time of the race and closed the gap to just over a quarter of a second behind the winners. Their silver medal time was one minute 45.692 seconds.
“Emily put the backpack on for this race and I just hopped in there,” Gustafson told the International Luge Federation. “She carried us to second place, and it was awesome.”
USA 2 featured Tucker West and Summer Britcher (Glen Rock, Pa.). They placed tenth in 1:46.112.
Germany entered two teams in the competition. The Germany 1 team of Max Langenhan and Julia Taubitz won gold in 1:45.429, while Germany 2, featuring Felix Loch and Merle Fraebel, won bronze in 1:45.741.
Mixed Doubles
The United States team of Mueller (Brookfield, Wisc.) and Haugsjaa (Framingham, Mass.), who set the fastest second heat time in yesterday’s doubles competition, hit the pad and opened the gates for Forgan (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Kirkby (Ray Brook, N.Y.), the winners in yesterday’s women’s doubles race. The duo had the fastest reaction time of the race and stopped the clock in 1:44.684, securing the bronze medal.
Germany 2 featured Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt, and Dajana Eitberger/Magdalena Matschina, who took advantage of an early start number under deteriorating conditions. Their time of 1:44.148 won the race. Latvia 1, with Martins Bots/Roberts Plume and Marta Robezniece/Kitija Bogdanova, placed second in 1:44.604.
Men’s Singles
2022 Olympian Gustafson tied his best-ever World Cup result, placing fifth in 1:37.627. His previous fifth place result was posted in Lake Placid last season. West (Lake Placid, N.Y.) set a start record by nearly one tenth of a second. On his second run, a mistake at the start cost him and he finished 12th in 1:38.259. West also holds start records in Lake Placid and Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Two-time Junior World Championship medalist Matt Greiner (Park City, Utah) placed 21st, just missing the cut to take a second run, in 50.177. Junior National Team athlete Aidan Mueller (West Islip, N.Y.) placed 28th in 50.838. Mueller qualified to race on the National Team at the Norton National Championships held last month in Park City.
Langenhan won the race in 1:37.338, followed by Wolfgang Kindl of Austria in 1:37.365, and Loch in 1:37.522.
USA Luge Athlete Quotes
Jonny Gustafson (about mixed event): “That was awesome. This new race format is really cool, it's really fun. It’s so weird not seeing your teammate before your run, but besides that, it was awesome. It was so much fun.”
Emily Sweeney: “The reaction gate is definitely something new for me, so I'm excited to see the times I did. But overall, it was so much fun, and I'm just keeping it rolling here for Team USA because I'm so excited for us.”
Ansel Haugsjaa: “I think it went really good. It was a lot of fun to be doing this new event, to have this good result. [I was] definitely a bit nervous going into it. We've never done a relay before, but it went good. We're happy.”
Marcus Mueller: “Definitely different conditions today, but those were two pretty good runs, and I enjoyed it a lot.”
Chevonne Forgan: “So happy to be on the podium again. So happy with our third place. We had a solid run.”
Sophia Kirkby: “It was a solid day. It was great to have our new athletes join us in this race. And thank you so much for our sponsors: Karbon, Norton, Dow, U.S. Venture, Team Worldwide and White Castle.”
World Cup action continues in Innsbruck-Igls, Austria, on December 7-8, with the World Championships being held February 6-8, 2025, in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. To live stream the races and view archived competitions, please visit the FIL’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FILLuge_Channel. The entire World Cup and World Championship season can be accessed from this portal.
