Taubitz wins 2 luge World Cup golds, Britcher grabs a silver

Julia Taubitz of Germany won a pair of women’s World Cup luge races Sunday, while Summer Britcher gave USA Luge its best individual finish in nearly two years by grabbing a silver medal.

Taubitz won the women’s race in 1 minute, 39.434 seconds, beating German teammate Natalie Geisenberger by 0.368 seconds in that two-run competition. Kendija Aparjode of Latvia was third in 1:39.856.

For the U.S. women, Britcher was 10th, Ashley Farquharson was 13th and Brittney Arndt placed 19th.

In the women’s sprint race that followed, Taubitz won again, in 31.743 seconds. Britcher was second in 31.764 and Dajana Eitberger of Germany was third in 31.775. Farquharson placed 14th for the Americans.

Britcher’s silver medal was the best finish for the U.S. in a singles or doubles World Cup race since she won silver at Lillehammer in January 2020.

In the men’s sprint, Dominik Fischnaller of Italy got his seventh career World Cup victory by prevailing over Roman Repilov of Russia and Wolfgang Kindl of Austria. Jonny Gustafson was 15th for the U.S.

And in the doubles sprint, Latvian brothers Andris Sics and Juris Sics got the win over Aleksandr Denisev and Vladislav Antonov, both of Russia. Germans Robin Geueke and David Gamm were third, two spots ahead of the American sled of Chris Mazdzer and Jayson Terdiman.

The World Cup luge series moves to Altenberg, Germany, next weekend.

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