GANGWON, South Korea - The 2024 Youth Olympic Winter Games kicked off with the women’s singles race, followed by the men’s doubles competition. The race venue for the Games is the Alpensia Sliding Center, site of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
Ellie Kleinheinz (Santa Clara, Calif.) led the U.S. squad, finishing in 18th place. The Archbishop Mitty High School student finished with a time of one minute, 40.014 seconds. Talia Tonn (Cecil, Wisc.) was sitting in 11thplace after the first of two heats but had problems and did not finish her second run.
Antonia Pietschman of Germany was the gold medalist with a time of 1:35.774. She was followed by the daughter of two former luge athletes, Italy’s Alexandra Oberstoltz in 1:35.326. Austrian Marie Riedl took the bronze in 1:36.928.
Nate Bivins (Castleton, N.Y.) and Wolfgang Lux (Swanton, Vt.) placed 11th with a time of 1:46.132 in the men’s doubles race.
The winners, Phillip Brunner and Manuel Weissensteiner of Italy, clocked a two-run combined time of 1:34.283. Latvia’s Janis Gruzdulis-Borovojs and Edens Cepulis won the silver medal in 1:34.630. Louis Gruenbeck and Maximilian Kuehrt of Germany took the bronze in 1:35.076.
Racing continues with men’s singles and women’s doubles on January 21, followed by the team relay on January 23.
Results and schedule for the 2024 Youth Olympic Games can be found here: https://olympics.com/gangwon-2024/en/results/all-sports/competition-schedule.htm
