Team USA forged a strong weekend in Lillehammer with standout performances across the men’s, women’s, and mixed skeleton events, signaling early-season momentum on one of the tour’s most demanding tracks. Mystique Ro delivered the headline result with a dramatic climb to seventh in the women’s field before teaming with Austin Florian to earn silver in the mixed race. Florian also led the American men with a solid 15th-place finish, while Kelly Curtis, Kendall Wesenberg, Sara Roderick, Daniel Barefoot, and Nicholas Tucker all added valuable runs, as the U.S. roster logged depth and consistency. With podium hardware in the mixed event and competitive times across all three races, the Americans leave Lillehammer firmly in the mix as the World Cup season gains pace.

Lillehammer’s World Cup stop is held at the Lillehammer Olympic Sliding Centre, a historic venue built for the 1994 Winter Olympics and still one of the most unique tracks on the IBSF circuit. It is the most northerly sliding track in the world and the only artificially iced sliding facility in Scandinavia, featuring 16 challenging curves and hosting top international bobsled, skeleton and luge competition each season. The track’s storied legacy and technical layout make it a key test for athletes as they continue toward championships and Olympic qualification.

Team USA delivered one of its strongest collective performances of the weekend in the mixed skeleton event, with Ro and Florian racing to an impressive silver in 1:49.89 — just .56 seconds off gold. Ro backed up her standout individual result with another composed, technically-sharp run, while Florian posted the fastest start in heat two (20.98 to the first split) and stayed within podium pace through every interval.

Great Britain’s pairing of Tabitha Stoecker and Marcus Wyatt claimed the win in 1:49.33 behind a near-perfect opening leg from Stoecker and Wyatt’s dominant middle-track speed. Germany’s Jacqueline Pfeifer and Axel Jungk finished third, only two-hundredths behind the Americans, in a battle that saw the top-three teams separated by just .58 seconds.

The U.S. depth continued to show with Roderick and Tucker taking eighth overall — a strong step forward for a new pairing — thanks to clean drives and competitive split times across both runs. With a silver medal and another top 10, the Americans closed out Lillehammer with momentum across the board, a clear marker of their rising mixed-event strength.

Ro delivered one of the most impressive comebacks of the day in Lillehammer, vaulting from 14th after the first heat to finish seventh overall with a superb second run of 52.25 seconds — the third-fastest final heat in the entire field. Her push times and clean middle-track work highlighted a strong early-season statement for the U.S.

At the front of the standings, Austria’s Janine Flock claimed gold in 1:44.31, leaning on her trademark smooth driving to edge Great Britain’s Tabitha Stoecker, who opened with the fastest start and cleanest top split of the day. Belgium’s Kim Meylemans secured bronze, rounding out a podium separated by just a quarter of a second.

The U.S. women put three sleds in the top 27. Behind Ro, Kelly Curtis surged in her second run to finish 11th, clocking a time of 52.38 seconds that ranked among the heat’s top-five drives. Kendall Wesenberg placed 27th, while Sara Roderick finished 29th as she continues to settle in on one of the circuit’s most technical tracks. 

Great Britain’s Matt Weston opened his season with a statement win in Lillehammer, taking World Cup gold in 1:42.58 after a blistering first heat set the tone. Germany’s Axel Jungk finished just .05 seconds back for silver, while Korea’s Jung Seung-gi secured bronze in a tightly-packed podium separated by only eight-hundredths.

For the Americans, Austin Florian led the way with a 15th-place finish (1:43.44), showing strong start velocity and top-ten intermediate splits before slipping a bit in the final corners. Daniel Barefoot ended 24th (1:43.74) after two steady drives, and Nicholas Tucker placed 27th (52.10 seconds in heat two), gaining valuable experience on one of the circuit’s most technical tracks.

With Weston’s win, Jungk’s consistency, and a deep Asian contingent pressing into the top six, the early-season bar in men’s skeleton already is exceptionally high — and Team USA leaves Lillehammer with building blocks for the weeks ahead.