Ashley Farquharson etched her name into American luge history on Tuesday, winning a shock bronze medal in the women’s singles competition at Cortina Sliding Centre.

RESULTS

Farquharson's triumph comes twelve years after Erin Hamlin finished 3rd at Sochi 2014 and became the United States’ first-ever medalist in the event. Farquharson is the third American to medal in singles luge, following Chris Mazdzer’s silver at PyeongChang 2018.

As fate would have it, Hamlin was on the call for the broadcast, narrating the entirety of Farquharson's tense final run and the moment she secured a spot on the podium at the finish line. That in itself was a full-circle moment.

“It feels incredible," Farquharson told reporters following the event. "I remember watching (Hamlin) win that race in my eighth-grade math class."

Germany’s Julia Taubitz won gold, continuing a run of dominance that has seen a German win the women’s event at eight straight Games. The reigning world champion paced the field by nearly a second, posting a total time of 3:30.625 after sliding to a track record on her second run. It was victory at last for the 29-year-old, who crashed on her second run at Beijing 2022 and finished 7th. 

Latvia’s Elina Bota became the first woman to win a singles luge medal in her country’s history when she took silver with a total time of 3:31.543.

Italian Verena Hofer just missed out on a podium at her home track. 

Ashley Farquharson (USA), Julia Taubitz (GER) and Elina Bota (LAT) celebrate after their medal-clinching runs at Cortina Sliding Centre.

Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

Heading into Run 3 of the competition, the Germans looked well on their way to securing a 1-2 finish for the fourth consecutive Games. Taubitz and teammate Merle Fraebel swapped first-place runs on Monday and were separated by six hundredths of a second entering the final day. 

However, things unraveled for the 22-year-old Fraebel when she hit the wall at the start of Run 3, finishing 1.475 seconds behind Taubitz and blowing the battle for silver and bronze wide open. 

Farquharson happily took that invitation, laying down a mistake-free 52.877 to go up into a medal position for the first time in the competition. The 26-year-old had impressed in her first two runs, taking 4th in her opening effort and ending the night in 5th place. 

Then came her final run Tuesday, on which she dramatically teetered between a provisional 3rd and 4th through the twisting turns before crossing the finish line six hundredths of a second ahead of Hofer. 

"I knew that I could only do what I could. I try not to worry about everyone else," Farquharson told reporters. “I can only do what I can, so the focus is very much on the run, trying to be very clean, trying to be very smooth, and having a really good time and enjoying the moment. And it worked. I feel very lucky and like it’s paid off.”

Emily Fischnaller finished in 12th, the best-ever Olympic result for the 32-year-old from Lake Placid, New York. She previously finished 26th at Beijing 2022 and did not finish in her Olympic debut at PyeongChang 2018 after a heavy crash. Fischnaller entered the final run in a lofty 5th place, but a skid through the middle portion of the track lost her over a second in her total time. 

"Clearly it's a bummer that my last run went the way it did, but I have to walk away being proud," Fischnaller told reporters. "I gave so much. I left it all out there."

Four-time Olympian Summer Britcher, perhaps the slider favored to finish highest of the Americans at Milan Cortina 2026, made a mistake at the start of Run 1 on Monday and was left to play catch-up for the remainder of the competition. But Britcher nevertheless also achieved a career-best result at the Games with a 14th-place finish. 

As the top-finishing women's singles sled for Team USA, Farquharson will join top men's finisher Jonny Gustafson and compete in the team relay event on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 12:30 p.m. ET. The American team will be finalized after the men's and women's doubles events on Wednesday, Feb. 11.