LILLEHAMMER, Norway (AP) — Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirkby became the first Americans to win a World Cup luge gold medal on foreign soil in nearly seven years, prevailing Saturday in the season-opening women's doubles race.
It was part of a two-medal day for USA Luge. Emily Sweeney took silver in the women's singles event.
Forgan and Kirkby's first World Cup gold medal came when they edged the German team of Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal by 17 milliseconds over the two runs. Forgan and Kirkby had the fastest time in the first heat, fell behind the Germans' pace in the second heat, then found just enough speed at the end to reclaim the lead for good.
The last World Cup gold for USA Luge was Dec. 8, 2023, when the men’s doubles team of Zachary DiGregorio and Sean Hollander won on home ice in Lake Placid, New York. The most recent one before that was Summer Britcher’s gold in a women’s sprint race at Lillehammer on Jan. 21, 2018.
Kirkby wore a message on the palm of one of her gloves: “I'm very, very proud of her,” she scrawled with a marker, a quote from her late father.
“I'm really happy about our performance,” Kirkby said. “It brings me tears of joy and a little bit of sadness. My dad passed away this past summer and he would have been so proud to see this.”
The Latvian team of Marta Robezniece and Kitija Bogdanova was third in the women’s doubles race.
In women’s singles, Julia Taubitz of Germany held off Sweeney by about one-tenth of a second for the win. Sweeney set a track record in her second run, pulling her into the silver-medal spot.
Lisa Schulte of Austria was third. The Americans had three sliders in the top eight of the women’s race, with Britcher sixth and Ashley Farquharson eighth.
“It’s really an extraordinary day,” Sweeney said.
In men’s doubles, Toni Eggert and Florian Mueller of Germany won, with Martins Bots and Roberts Plume of Latvia second and the Austrian sled of Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl third.
The U.S. had two men’s doubles top-10 sleds: Dana Kellogg and Frank Ike were eighth, and DiGregorio and Hollander were two spots back.
The World Cup weekend in Lillehammer ends Sunday with men's singles, mixed doubles and mixed singles races.
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