![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/luge_Britcher-1100x721.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
USA Luge athlete Summer Britcher competes in the FIL Luge World Cup Jan. 4 in Sigulda, Latvia. (Provided photo \u2014 FIL\/Michael Kristen)<\/p>\n
SIGULDA, Latvia \u2014 USA Luge\u2019s Summer Britcher won her second race of the season and assumed the lead of the overall World Cup, despite missing the first event of the season. <\/p>\n
\tThe 31-year-old slider secured gold after posting back-to-back elite results in the International Luge Federation\u2019s World Cup in Latvia this past weekend. Britcher, who has now medaled in all three women\u2019s singles World Cup events she\u2019s competed in this season, has all but locked up a slot on the 2026 Olympic Team.<\/p>\n
\tOn Sunday, the United States relay team of Britcher, Zack DiGregorio and Sean Hollander in men\u2019s doubles, Jonny Gustafson and the women\u2019s doubles team of Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby, won the bronze medal following a near-perfect effort from all four sleds.<\/p>\n
\tThe duo of Forgan and Kirkby also took fifth in Saturday\u2019s women\u2019s doubles competition. While in the men\u2019s doubles event, Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa led the U.S. effort, placing ninth. Both teams are moving closer to Olympic team nominations with one qualification race remaining in doubles. <\/p>\n
\u2013<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/luge_Jon-1100x733.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
USA Luge athlete Jonny Gustafson competes during the FIL Luge World Cup Jan. 4 in Sigulda, Latvia. (Provided photo by FIL\/Michael Kristen)<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s singles<\/p>\n
\u2013<\/p>\n
\tBritcher, of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania, secured her seventh World Cup victory, a USA Luge record for women, in 1 minute, 23.840 seconds following her second heat on Sunday. The three-time Olympian was sitting in third place after the first heat on Saturday but posted the fastest time of the weekend to win the race.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019m very, very happy,\u201d Britcher said. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of ups and downs here in Sigulda, and a long time ago it was my favorite track, and I really loved it. And this week was so much fun. The track crew did an amazing job preparing the track, so it was a lot of fun to feel that joy on the track again here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWith three podium finishes this season, including two wins, Britcher is expected to qualify for her fourth Olympic team.<\/p>\n
\tAshley Farquharson of Park City, Utah, sat in ninth place after the first heat and like Britcher, she also moved up the rankings. The 2022 Olympian placed fifth in 1:24.131. Emily Fischnaller of Lake Placid was sitting in fourth place after the first heat but did not finish the race following a mistake in curves 12 and 13.<\/p>\n
\tThis result, like Britcher\u2019s, has placed her as an overwhelming favorite to qualify for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Italy next month.<\/p>\n
\tLisa Schulte of Austria was second in 1:23.877 and Juila Taubitz of Germany was third in 1:23.931.<\/p>\n
\tThe U.S. team skipped the first World Cup of the season, as it was not a part of the Olympic qualification process. Despite this, Britcher sits atop the World Cup standings with 270 points. In second is Merle Fraebel of Germany with 245, and Taubitz is third with 244.<\/p>\n
\tFarquharson is seventh with 210, and Fischnaller 15th with 100. Emma Erickson of Park City, Utah did not qualify for this weekend\u2019s race and sits 31st with 44 points.<\/p>\n
\u2013<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s singles<\/p>\n
\u2013<\/p>\n
\tGustafson, a 2022 Olympian, was the top finishing U.S. sled in 17th with a time of 1:36.837, after his second run on Sunday. Hunter Harris of East Fairfield, Vermont, was 26th in 49.275, with three-time Olympian Tucker West of Lake Placid in 27th with a time of 49.409 after Saturday\u2019s results. Harris and West did not qualify for the second heat.<\/p>\n
\tAt 37 years old, Felix Loch of Germany is showing no signs of slowing down. He won the men\u2019s singles race in 1:35.409. Austrian Jonas Mueller was second in 1:35.490 and Max Langenhan of Germany was third in 1:35.508.<\/p>\n
\tGustafson holds 11th place in overall World Cup points with 121. West is 27th with 55, and Harris is 28th with 51. Matt Greiner of Park City, Utah, did not qualify for the race and sits in 31st with 47 points.<\/p>\n
\tLoch leads the standings with 346 points. Mueller is second with 330, and Langenhan is third with 310.<\/p>\n
\u2013<\/p>\n
Team relay<\/p>\n
\u2013<\/p>\n
\tOn one of the more challenging tracks in the world, the United States relay team put together four cleans runs. Britcher kicked off the relay and posted the fastest time of the race among the women.<\/p>\n
\tDiGregorio, of Medway, Massachusetts, and Hollander of Lake Placid, held the lead, but a very minor issue at the start set the team back slightly. Gustafson, of Massena, was next with Team USA, sitting in fourth place at the transfer over to Forgan, of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and Kirkby, of Ray Brook. The duo brought the team up to the bronze medal position with a time of 3:01.643.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI think Team USA does a great job in relay,\u201d DiGregorio said. \u201cWe saw Summer had tons of speed, so she led us off and gave us a nice, good lead. And we followed through and got up to third place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAustria was first in 3:01.215, with Latvia second in 3:01.510. Austria leads the overall relay World Cup points standings with 270 points. Latvia is second with 215 and Poland is third with 166. The United States is seventh with 140.<\/p>\n
\u2013<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s doubles<\/p>\n
\u2013<\/p>\n
\tForgan and Kirkby dealt with problems in the first of the two heats. Their time of one minute, 25.640 seconds, was enough for fifth place. Maya Chan of Chicago and Sophia Gordon of Sussex, Wisconsin, placed sixth in 1:25.672. <\/p>\n
\tThe race was won by Austrians Selina Egle and Lara Kipp in 1:24.814. Dajana Eitberger and Magdalena Matschina of Germany were second in 1:24.845, while Italians Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer were third in 1:25.017. <\/p>\n
\tEgle and Kipp lead the overall World Cup with 370 points. Eitberger and Matschina are second with 340. Germany\u2019s Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal are third with 230 points but did not compete Saturday after failing to qualify for the race. <\/p>\n
\tFollowing three World Cup races, Forgan and Kirkby are fourth with 180 points, and Chan and Gordon are ninth with 144. <\/p>\n
\u2013<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s doubles<\/p>\n
\u2013<\/p>\n
\tMueller, of Brookfield, Wisconsin, and Haugsjaa, of Framingham, Massachusetts, winners of the last race in Lake Placid, were ninth in 1:24.316. <\/p>\n
\tOlympians DiGregorio and Hollander were just .002 behind their teammates in 10th with a time of 1:24.318. <\/p>\n
\tBoth teams made minor mistakes at various points. Dana Kellogg of Chesterfield, Massachusetts and Frank Ike of Lititz, Pennsylvania, were 19th in 43.175 after a single challenging run. They did not take a second run, as only the top 18 sleds advance to the final heat. <\/p>\n
\tEduards Sevics-Mikelsevics and Lukass Krasts of Latvia won their first World Cup race in 1:23.508. Germany\u2019s Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt were second in 1:23.586, while Latvians Martins Bots and Roberts Plume were third in 1:23.593.<\/p>\n
\tIn the overall World Cup standings, Wendl and Arlt are first with 266 points, while Bots and Plume are second with 265. Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schoepf of Austria are third with 244 points. <\/p>\n
\tMueller and Haugsjaa are tied for eighth place with Italy\u2019s Ivan Nagler and Fabian Malleier with 175 points. DiGregorio and Hollander are 10th with 160, and Kellogg and Ike are 18th with 90.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n \t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
USA Luge athlete Summer Britcher competes in the FIL Luge World Cup Jan. 4…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[3611,49,978,659,206662,206658,206659,206660,206661],"class_list":{"0":"post-681647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-local-news","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-us","11":"tag-usa","12":"tag-usa-luges-britcher-takes-home-more-world-cup-gold","13":"tag-usa-luges-britcher-takes-home-more-world-cup-goldlocal-sports","14":"tag-usa-luges-britcher-takes-home-more-world-cup-goldnews","15":"tag-usa-luges-britcher-takes-home-more-world-cup-goldsports","16":"tag-usa-luges-britcher-takes-home-more-world-cup-goldwinter-olympic-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115858149486222308","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}