The first taste of women’s luge competition starts on Monday, Feb. 9, with Run 1 slated for 11 a.m. ET at Cortina Sliding Centre.
| Date/Time | Event | Stream |
|---|---|---|
| Mon, 2/9 11a-1:20p |
Women's Singles Luge: Runs 1-2 | Peacock, NBCOlympics.com |
| Tues, 2/10 11a-1:50p |
Women's Singles Luge: Runs 3-4 🏅 | Peacock, NBCOlympics.com |
| Weds, 2/11 11a-2:40p |
Men's & Women's Doubles Luge 🏅 | Peacock, NBCOlympics.com |
| Thurs, 2/12 12:30-1:45p |
Luge Team Relay 🏅 | Peacock, NBCOlympics.com |
Much like the men's competition, there will be no repeat winner. German luge legend Natalie Geisenberger - who won a third straight gold in the singles event at Beijing 2022 - retired in 2023.
Read on for the potential storylines heading into competition.
Is another German sweep on the horizon?
After Max Langenhan won the men's singles gold on Sunday, all eyes will turn to one of Julia Taubitz, Anna Berreiter or Merle Fraebel to try their hand at gold - or even sweep the podium altogether.
It’s not a longshot for such a thing to happen. German women have swept the singles podium at six Olympic Games, with the most recent coming at Torino 2006. Germany has also seen at least two athletes finish on the podium in the women’s event at the last seven consecutive Winter Games. At Beijing 2022, Germany swept all four luge gold medals.
Taubitz is the reigning world champion and looks to be in form on track after topping three of the six official training runs. The 29-year-old finished 7th at Beijing 2022.
Berreiter is the reigning Olympic silver medalist and 2023 world champion. Frabel, the youngest of the trio, came second to Taubitz at last year’s world championships and was the U23 world champion in 2023. She topped official training Run 5, edging out Taubitz by one hundredth of a second.
Team USA at a glance
The American trio of Summer Britcher, Ashley Farquharson and Emily Fischnaller are all Olympic veterans, but each will be searching for a first Olympic medal.
Britcher is entering her fourth Olympics, her best singles finish coming at Sochi 2014 when she came in 15th. It was at those same Games that Erin Hamlin took bronze and became the first American to win an Olympic luge singles medal.
Britcher is coming off a successful world cup season, winning two singles events during the campaign. She finished an impressive 3rd in the final training run.
Farquharson will compete in her second Games and came in 12th in the singles event in her Olympic debut in Beijing.
Fischnaller will compete in her third Games and is coming off a 3rd place finish at the world championships last year. Her husband, Italian luger Dominik Fischnaller, took the bronze medal during the men's event on Sunday.
Others to watch include Austrians Hannah Prock and Lisa Schulte, Latvian Elina Bota and Italian Verena Hofer.