Farquharson fourth, Kellogg/Ike with best-ever result

INNSBRUCK/IGLS, Austria—For the fourth consecutive World Cup event, the athletes of USA Luge stood on the podium. Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirkby won the bronze in the women’s doubles competition at the home of the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Winter Games.

Ashley Farquharson finished fourth in the women’s singles race and holds third in the overall World Cup standings.

The USA Luge men’s doubles team of Dana Kellogg/Frank Ike secured their best-ever result, placing eighth. This result cements their first appearance in the relay scheduled for tomorrow, a first for the duo who previously raced with different partners over the past seasons.

The team’s achievements come after a challenging week, with the loss of USA Luge coach, marketing manager and humanitarian Dmitry Feld on January 10.

Women’s Doubles

Forgan (Chelmsford, Mass.)/Kirkby (Ray Brook, N.Y.) made a series of small mistakes in their first run, ranking sixth. The duo came back with the second fastest time in the next heat, securing a bronze medal in one minute 20.384 seconds. Forgan and Kirkby, who set the two fastest start times of the competition, earned their second bronze medal of the season.

“We got third in our race today here in Igls, which is very exciting,” said Forgan. “We started off with a few problems in our first run, but we managed to clean it up and sort of climb back up onto the podium.”

Kirkby added, “Like Chevonne said, here in Igls, Austria, we just got third. [I’m] very happy because we were in sixth after the first run, but we pulled a solid second run and we were able to climb up into third place.”

Teammates Maya Chan (Chicago, Ill.) and Reannyn Weiler (Whitesboro, N.Y.) placed sixth with at time of 1:20.553. They have placed sixth in every competition this season.

Germany’s Jessica Degenhardt/Cheyenne Rosenthal secured their third gold medal of the season with a time of 1:20.178. Italy’s Andrea Voetter/Marion Oberhofer placed second in 1:20.192.

Degenhardt/Rosenthal took the overall World Cup lead with 410 points. Voetter/Oberhofer are in second with 370, and Austria’s Selina Egle/Lara Kipp move from first to third with 364. Forgan/Kirkby are fifth with 330 while teammates Chan/Weiler are sixth with 250.

Men’s Doubles

After winning the qualifying race to kick-off the weekend in Igls on Friday, Kellogg (Chesterfield, Mass.)/Ike (Lititz, Pa.), had consistent runs in both heats today, finishing the day with a best-ever result in eighth with a time of 1:19.389.

Forgan/Kirkby take bronze in Igls World Cup

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