Four U.S. sleds earn overall Junior World Cup trophies

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland - Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa took gold for the second time in the 2023-24 Junior World Cup campaign. The duo also clinched second place in the overall Junior World Cup standings at this, the final event of the season. Their teammates Logan Barnes and Gavin Davis were third in the season-long rankings.

In Junior men’s singles, Aidan Mueller and Matt Greiner also finished 2-3 in the overall Junior World Cup rankings.

Men’s Doubles

Marcus Mueller (Brookfield, Wisc.) and Haugsjaa (Framingham, Mass.) crossed the finish line in one minute, 49.973 seconds, edging out Latvians Raimonds Baltgalvis and Vitalijs Jerorgovs by .051seconds. Germany’s Pascal Kunze and Max Trippner were third in 1:50.079.

Logan Barnes (Milwaukee, Wisc.) and Gavin Davis (Berwick, Pa.) navigated the only non-refrigerated track on the circuit in 1:54.984, placing ninth.

Mueller and Haugsjaa capped off a Junior World Cup season that saw a pair of wins and a pair of second place finishes in the six-race series. The duo missed two events while training for and competing in the World Championships, where they placed 13^th and took a bronze in the U23 World Championships.

Kunze/Trippner had 480 World Cup points to Mueller/Haugsjaa’s 370. Barnes and Davis secured third place overall with 304 points.

Men’s singles

The United States men’s singles team was led by Matt Greiner (Park City, Utah), who placed sixth in 2:21.332. Aidan Mueller (West Islip, N.Y.) was tenth with a two-run combined time of 2:22.505. Barnes, competing in singles and doubles, placed 20^th with a time of 2:25.891, followed by Seth Coates (Potsdam, N.Y.) in 2:29.123.

Kaspars Rinks of Latvia won gold in 2:20.817, followed by silver medalist Noah Kallan of Austria. Leon Haselrieder of Italy, who won the 2024 Youth Olympic men’s luge race, was third in 2:21.097.

Germany’s Marco Leger won the overall Junior World Cup title with 505 points. Aidan Mueller was second with 338 points and Greiner was third with 311, despite missing a race. Barnes was 10^th with 161 points, while Coates was 18^thwith 89 points.

Women’s singles

In women’s singles, Sophia Gordon (Sussex, Wisc.) placed 13^th in 1:51.731, leading the U.S. squad. Park City, Utah athletes Emma Erickson and Macey Schomaker were 17^th and 18^th, with times of 1:53.132 and 1:53.769, respectively. Brianna Gosnell (Evansburg, Pa.) was 20^th in 1:56.173.

The race was won by Anka Jaenicke of Germany in 1:50.083, followed by teammate Antonia Pietschmann in 1:50.127. Latvia’s Zane Kaluma was third in 1:50.405.

Gordon ranked seventh in the season-long rankings with 196 points, while Erickson was 12^th with 164. Schomaker was 16^th with 115 points, the retired Delaney Duncan was 20^th with 92, and Gosnell was 23^rd with 83 points.

In the team competition in St. Moritz, the United States team placed fourth behind team from Latvia, Germany and Italy. In the overall team competition standings, however, the U.S. came out on top with 330 points over Germany with 285 and Canada with 155.

The Norton Junior National Championships will be held March 2-3 in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Marcus Muller and Ansel Haugsjaa win Jr. World Cup in St. Moritz

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