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Associated Press
29-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Luge officials predict 2026 Olympic sliding races will be in Italy, a good sign for Milan-Cortina
Next year's Olympic sliding races will be in Italy after all, international luge officials predicted Saturday in another ringing endorsement of the newly rebuilt track in Cortina d'Ampezzo. The International Luge Federation followed its bobsled and skeleton counterpart in declaring the testing of the track that Italy hopes to use at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics a success. That's another sign that the sliding community fully expects the Olympic races to be in the Italian Alps and not at the Plan B site in Lake Placid, New York, next winter. 'See you in Cortina in February of 2026,' FIL general secretary Dwight Bell, the former longtime USA Luge president, said in a statement released by the international federation. That's not an official announcement; one of those will likely come from the International Olympic Committee. But the luge community's backing, combined with rave reviews that came from the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation on Friday, almost certainly means sliding events will be in Italy — essentially ending plenty of doubt about whether an ambitious construction project to restore the historic Eugenio Monti track would be done in time for the Olympics. 'We are extremely satisfied with the testing conducted on the luge track in Cortina,' said Claire delNegro, the FIL's vice president for sport. 'Testing was done with athletes and coaches representing 11 countries from Europe, Asia and North America over 178 runs. The track was well prepared and improved daily so that final speeds achieved to date were aligned with design specifications.' About 60 athletes from around the world — roughly half of them Italian — took part in the bobsled, skeleton and luge runs over the last week. There is still much to do at the Cortina track, including building a roof and continuing to prepare the site for thousands of visitors during the 2025-26 sliding season. Various construction projects there are scheduled through Nov. 5, and Italian officials say they believe that target is doable. 'It's incredible what the Italians have achieved here in such a short space of time, at a level that is second to none,' world men's luge champion Max Langenhan of Germany said. 'I would never have thought that. I arrived with rather low expectations because there was so much going on around it. But when you see the energy here — they really do everything for it, and you can probably expect this spirit at the Olympic Games. It's fantastic.' Luge athletes are scheduled to have an international training period at the new track from Oct. 27 through Nov. 2, then return for a test event there in the final week of November. The bobsled and skeleton tours will hold their international training period from Nov. 7-16, followed by the season-opening World Cup races there from Nov. 17-23. The 1.749-kilometer (1.09-mile) Cortina track features 16 curves with an estimated top speed of 145 kph (90 mph) and with run times slated for 55-60 seconds. The Olympic Regional Development Authority, a state agency in New York that oversees Lake Placid's Olympic facilities — including the Mount Van Hoevenberg sliding complex — is going forward with major upgrades to refrigeration systems and other improvements this year anyway, and planned to whether or not the Olympic sliding races were coming to the Adirondacks. The final runs of the season on the track in Lake Placid were being taken this weekend, and construction has already started at the facility. ___
Washington Post
23-02-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Langenhan and Wendl-Arlt win World Cup luge titles. USA Luge finishes the season with a relay bronze
YANQING, China — Max Langenhan of Germany won the luge World Cup men's singles overall championship on Sunday for the third consecutive year, while the veteran German men's doubles pairing of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt clinched the season-long crown for the sixth time. Both finished off those titles with victories on the final day of the schedule — and USA Luge ended its season by winning a bronze medal in the team relay, giving it 10 medals from this World Cup year.
Associated Press
23-02-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Langenhan and Wendl-Arlt win World Cup luge titles. USA Luge finishes the season with a relay bronze
YANQING, China (AP) — Max Langenhan of Germany won the luge World Cup men's singles overall championship on Sunday for the third consecutive year, while the veteran German men's doubles pairing of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt clinched the season-long crown for the sixth time. Both finished off those titles with victories on the final day of the schedule — and USA Luge ended its season by winning a bronze medal in the team relay, giving it 10 medals from this World Cup year. Langenhan won the men's race, with Austrian sleds taking the next two spots — Jonas Mueller was second and David Gleirscher was third. Langenhan won the overall title by 103 points over another Austrian, Nico Gleirscher. In doubles, Wendl and Arlt won Sunday, with Martins Bots and Roberts Plume of Latvia second and Toni Eggert and Florian Mueller of Germany placing third. The Bots-Plume sled finished second in the season standings as well, 104 points back of Wendl-Arlt. Austria won the team relay, followed by Germany and the U.S. The Americans had Ashley Farquharson in women's singles, Tucker West in men's singles, Zach Di Gregorio and Sean Hollander in men's doubles and Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby in women's doubles for the relay. Up next Luge — Season complete. Next World Cup season expected to begin in Igls, Austria, on Dec. 5-7. Skeleton — Day 1 of men's and women's world championships at Lake Placid, New York, on March 6. Bobsled — Day 1 of women's monobob and two-man world championships at Lake Placid on March 8. ___
NBC Sports
06-02-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Chevonne Forgan, Sophia Kirkby ride success toward Olympic debut of women's doubles luge
Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby were training in Lake Placid, New York, when they received the news, officially, that changed the trajectory of their shared career. On June 24, 2022, the IOC announced a slew of new Winter Olympic events to debut at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games. Some were introduced to bring the Winter Games closer to gender equality. One of them was Forgan and Kirkby's event of women's doubles luge. One doubles event had already been on the Olympic program since luge's debut at the 1964 Innsbruck Games, but only men had ever competed together. 'It was relieving,' Forgan said of the inclusion. 'We were kind of counting on it being added to the Olympics, and just the fact that it did, I was like, OK, now we can actually focus on getting there.' They're just a year away. Forgan and Kirkby, who used to compete against each other in singles, are now one of the world's best doubles teams. They rank third on this season's World Cup circuit going into this week's World Championships in Whistler, Canada. The women's doubles event is Friday. Forgan, 24, and Kirkby, 23, won world championships bronze medals in 2022 and 2024. 'Sometimes it's hard to even think of ourselves as being that good,' Forgan said. 'It still feels like we're really learning and figuring it out.' Forgan was born in Australia. She saw snow for the first time when her family moved to Massachusetts in 2011 for her dad's job in computer software. The next year, Forgan's mom learned of a slider search event in a nearby town. USA Luge sets up a street luge course with cones to introduce the sport to kids. 'I thought it was sort of try luge for fun, get to know the sport,' she said. 'I didn't realize it was a tryout to make the team, until we got the email months later inviting me back to Lake Placid to try it on ice. And that was sort of like, OK, maybe we should actually find out what this really is.' Forgan, a self-described daredevil, was hooked after her first few runs on ice, reaching about 30 miles per hour. Kirkby grew up one town over from Lake Placid, the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic host that is home to one of the U.S.' two full-scale sliding tracks. She said that her dad, James, had bobsled experience while with the Air Force. Naturally, she began sliding at age 8. 'Eventually, I just found out that I was pretty decent at it,' she said. In 2020, Kirkby and Forgan went one-two in the U.S. Junior Championships in singles. That same year, then-U.S. coach Robert Fegg suggested they give doubles a shot. 06 January 2024, North Rhine-Westphalia, Winterberg: Luge: World Cup: Doubles, women, 1st run. ride through the ice channel. Chevonne Chelsea Forgan and Sophia Kirkby (USA) race through the ice channel. Photo: Marius Becker/dpa (Photo by Marius Becker/picture alliance via Getty Images) dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images Forgan is 5 feet, 10 inches. Kirkby is 5 feet, 3 inches. A height difference is beneficial for aerodynamics in doubles. Neither was sure about it. They spent the 2020-21 pandemic year training both singles and doubles. When they teamed up, Forgan said it felt like they were almost learning how to luge again, which was fun. 'We're kind of having to share a brain on the sled,' she said. They went all-in on doubles in 2021-22, the first season with a world championship for the event. 'My main concern was, is this going to be an Olympic category or not?' Kirkby said. Forgan and Kirkby won bronze at those first world championships. Five months later came the announcement that women's doubles was added for the next Olympics in 2026. After luge's Olympic debut in 1964, it took 34 years for the U.S. to win its first medals — men's doubles silver and bronze in 1998. And 50 years for the first U.S. medal in singles — Erin Hamlin's bronze in 2014. With Forgan and Kirkby, the U.S. from the get-go is rivaling traditional powers Germany, Austria and Italy in women's doubles. This season, Kirkby is competing with a quote written on her left glove from her father, who had prostate cancer and died last summer. 'Everything is going really really good! -Dad,' reads the glove she is wearing at world championships. Before he died, Kirkby's mom had him talk to save his voice in recordings. He spoke about Forgan and Kirkby's team. He spoke about how great their previous season was. He said he hoped they'd go to the Olympics. 'Before he died he said to me, 'I might not be able to watch your next season, but I'd like to think I'll be there giving you an extra push sliding down,'' Kirkby posted on social media this week. 'I might not have him here to watch this season, but I feel I've had him help push me to 4 World Cup podiums so far this season🥇🥈🥉🥉. I'm beyond blessed to carry his strength and love with me on every run. Here's to our most successful season yet—together.' Nick Zaccardi,
