For 62 years, doubles luge was a discipline solely competed by men at the Olympics. It was added to the Olympic program at Innsbruck 1964, in tandem with the men’s and women’s singles events. And for decades, female athletes did not have the chance to try their hand at it on the world stage. 

The IOC at long last added women’s doubles luge to the Olympic program in June 2022, and it became a full world cup event for the 2022-23 season.

Milan Cortina 2026 will now become that stage as the women’s event is set for its first-ever Olympic running on Wednesday, Feb. 11. 

The women’s and men’s competitions will alternate their two runs, with the 11 women’s pairings taking Run 1 beginning at 11 a.m. ET. There are 17 men’s pairings, and their first runs will begin at 11:50 a.m. 

Team USA’s sole women’s pairing is Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby, who won a bronze medal at the inaugural world championship event for women’s doubles in 2022. They now have a real chance at an Olympic medal after success in recent world championships and world cup seasons. Forgan and Kirkby put in top-5 times on all but one of the six official training runs. 

For those keeping up with Team USA on social media, Kirkby has made waves on Instagram after announcing her eligibility as a bachelorette in the Olympic Village. 

The likely gold-medal favorite is Austrians Selina Egle and Lara Kipp. Egle and Kipp lead the 2025-26 Luge World Cup standings and topped three training runs. 

Italy’s Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer looked strong in training on their home track, as did Germans Dajana Eitberger and Magdalena Matschina. 

On the men’s side, legendary German doubles pairing Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt is gunning for a fourth consecutive Olympic gold. Affectionately called the "Two Tobis," Wendl and Arlt already made history at Beijing 2022 when they became the first German athletes to win six gold medals across three consecutive Winter Games. Wendl and Arlt also compete in the team relay, and have a chance to win two more golds at Milan Cortina 2026. 

Wendl and Arlt's main challengers could be Latvia's Martins Bots and Roberts Plume as well as Austrians Wolfgang Kindl and Thomas Steu. 

Team USA will have two sleds in the competition: two-time Olympians Sean Hollander and Zachary Di Gregorio make up the first, while Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa will make their Olympic debuts. The latter pairing went quickest in the final training run.