Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby became the first U.S. women’s doubles luge team to win a World Cup race, taking the season opener on Saturday less than 15 months before the event makes its Olympic debut.
Forgan, 24, and Kirkby, 23, prevailed by 17 thousandths of a second over Germans Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal combining times from two runs in Lillehammer, Norway.
“It brings me tears of joy and a little bit of sadness,” Kirkby said. “My dad passed away this past summer, and he would have been so proud to see this.”
Kirkby wrote a quote from her dad -- “I’m very proud of her” -- on one of her gloves before the season.
Women’s doubles was added to luge’s annual senior World Cup circuit starting in the 2022-23 season. It had previously been added to the junior World Cup.
Forgan and Kirkby won world championships bronze medals in 2022 and again this past January.
Also in 2022, the IOC announced that women’s doubles was among the events being added for the next Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, in 2026.
Later Saturday, two-time Olympian Emily Sweeney took second in the women’s singles event behind German Julia Taubitz.
That marked the best American result in a women’s or men’s World Cup singles event (non-sprint) since Sweeney was second in December 2022 in Park City, Utah. The last time an American won a World Cup singles race was in January 2018 (Summer Britcher).
