National team finishes World Cup season with 14 medals, seven overall top ten finishes

USA Luge closed out the 2023-24 season this past weekend with the Masters Start Competition at the USA Luge Start Facility while the National Team celebrated its 14 World Cup medals and seven overall World Cup results in the top ten. Season highlights included podium finishes at the 2024 World Championships and 2024 Junior World Championships.

Masters 

The 2023-24 season concluded in Lake Placid on April 13, with the Masters Start Competition. Due to warm weather conditions, the Masters National Championship was canceled.

Matt Gannon (Lake Placid, N.Y.) won the master’s start competition, followed by Kamron Jensen (West Valley City, Utah) in second and Adam Wild (Lake Placid, N.Y.) in third. Bruce Norman (St. Augustine, Fla.) took the gold in the senior start division, with Jim Mossey (Rochester, N.Y.) in second, Bill Linka (Richmond, Va.) took third, and Dick Genovese (Rockford, Ill.) placed fourth. Genovese, 86, has competed in a variety of national luge championships for more than 50 years, and is the oldest individual to navigate a luge track in the U.S.

Women’s Doubles 

Chevonne Forgan/Sophia Kirkby won the bronze medal in women’s doubles and a silver in the Team Relay at the World Championships and collected six World Cup medals. Forgan (Chelmsford, Mass.)/Kirkby (Ray Brook, N.Y.) also brought home a bronze at the Innsbruck World Cup and a silver in the Lake Placid Sprint. The duo represented the discipline in five of the six Team Relay competitions, earning three bronze medals and one silver medal. They finished the overall season in fifth place.

Maya Chan (Chicago, Ill.)/Reannyn Weiler (Whitesboro, N.Y.) placed seventh overall. They finished five World Cup races in sixth place and placed second at the U23 World Championships.

Men’s Doubles

The U.S. medal count began at the first World Cup race held in Lake Placid, where the men’s doubles team of Zack DiGregorio (Medway, Mass.)/Sean Hollander (Lake Placid, N.Y.) won the gold medal on home ice. It was the first World Cup gold medal in men’s doubles for Team USA since 2005. The duo had five top ten finishes throughout the season and placed seventh overall in the points standings.

Dana Kellogg/Frank Ike, who hit the ice as a new team on the World Cup circuit, joined teammates Summer

Britcher, Tucker West, and Forgan/Kirkby in taking the silver medal in the Team Relay at World Championships. Kellogg (Chesterfield, Mass.)/Ike (Lititz, Pa.) had two top six finishes and a ninth-place finish at World Championships.

Women’s Singles 

2022 Olympian Ashley Farquharson made huge strides this year, which began with a silver medal in the Sprint race at the Lake Placid World Cup. Farquharson (Park City, Utah) just missed the podium on several occasions, landing in fourth place four times, including at the World Championships. With three Team Relay appearances, she earned the bronze medal at the Winterberg and Sigulda World Cups, respectively. She placed sixth in the overall points standings.

Emily Sweeney earned bronze medals at the Sprint World Cup races in Lake Placid and Sigulda, Latvia. Sweeney (Lake Placid, N.Y.), who also won the America-Pacific Championships in Whistler, Canada, finished eighth overall for the season.

Britcher (Glen Rock, Pa.) kicked off the season with a bronze medal in Lake Placid. The three-time Olympian also joined teammates West, DiGregorio/Hollander, and Forgan/Kirkby on the podium with the silver medal at the World Championships. She finished the season in 13th overall.

Men’s Singles 

As the season began with the announcement of 2018 Olympic Silver medalist Chris Mazdzer retiring from the sport, it was West, Jonny Gustafson and Hunter Harris who represented the team in men’s singles.

West (Ridgefield, Conn.), who earned the title as the fastest start luge athlete in the world after taking first place at the Kick-off Start Competition in Lake Placid, secured seven top ten finishes during the season and finished fourth at the World Championships. The three-time Olympian represented the discipline for four of the six World Cup Team Relay races, resulting in two bronze medals and one silver medal, as well as a silver medal at the World Championships.

Gustafson (Massena, N.Y.) finished tenth overall and earned a season’s best fifth-place finish in the Lake Placid World Cup. He joined teammates Farquharson, DiGregorio/Hollander, and Forgan/Kirkby in celebrating a Team Relay bronze medal during the Winterberg World Cup.

It was the first World Cup circuit appearance for Harris (East Fairfield, Vt.), who landed in 23rd place overall for the season, with a best fifth place result during the America-Pacific Championships.

Team Relay

Team USA was represented by 11 National Team athletes, the most of any other previous season. The team finished third in the overall World Cup, winning five medals across the six-race series, including a silver medal at the World Championships.

The 2023-24 National Team was coached by Lubo Mick, Kaspars Dumpis and Toni Eggert. The Team Manager was Jakub Simonak, with Caroline Kannel serving as Athletic Trainer.  

Junior National Team

The Junior National Team won 22 medals, including a Junior World Championships gold medal won by Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa in men’s doubles. Matt Greiner and Aidan Mueller placed second and third in the men’s singles overall Junior World Cup, respectively, while the Junior Team Relay placed first overall for the season.

Mueller (Brookfield, Wisc.)/Haugsjaa (Framingham, Mass.) have been podium regulars for the past two seasons, with top three finishes in every race, including a 2023 World Championship bronze medal, and finished the overall season in second place. The duo of Logan Barnes (Milwaukee, Wisc.)/Gavin Davis (Berwick, Pa.) placed third overall.

Greiner (Park City, Utah) won the silver medal at the Junior World Championships in Lillehammer, Norway, adding to his collection of podium finishes following his bronze medal at the 2022 Junior World Championships in Winterberg, Germany.

The United States placed second in the Junior World Championships Team Relay.

The Junior National Team is coached by Pat Anderson and Arturs Darznieks. Keith Younger served as Team Manager and Tori Lam was the team’s Athletic Trainer. The Development Team coaches were Aidan Kelly, Jayson Terdiman, Zach Layton, Elana Morrison, Sam Day and Jon Owen.

Youth Olympic Games

Seven athletes represented the U.S. during the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympics at the Alpensia Sliding Center, site of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

Ellie Kleinheinz (Santa Clara, Calif.) finished in 18th place in women’s singles, while Orson Colby (Riverton, Utah) placed 14th in men’s singles. Nate Bivins (Castleton, N.Y.)/Wolfgang Lux (Swanton, Vt.) placed 11th in men’s doubles. Sadie Martin (Vermontville, N.Y.) and Haidyn Bunker (West Farmington, Ohio) did not finish their race.

Team USA was represented by Talia Tonn (Cecil, Wisc.), Colby, and the doubles team of Bivins/Lux in the relay. The team placed ninth.

For more results on the 2023-24 World Cup season, visit https://www.fil-luge.org.

USA Luge closes out 2023-24 season with Masters Start Competition

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