Mueller, Haugsjaa get World Cup win for USA Luge, the 1st of their career

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa felt the pressures of racing at home. And they were up to the challenge.

Mueller and Haugsjaa won their first World Cup men’s doubles race on Saturday, prevailing on USA Luge’s home track at Mount Van Hoevenberg with a two-run time of 1 minute, 27.509 seconds.

Martins Bots and Roberts Plume of Latvia were second and Yannick Müller and Armin Frauscher of Austria took third.

“It’s so good to be home,” Mueller said. “We still definitely have things to work on, but I’m taking the win today.”

In women’s doubles, USA Luge got a medal as well. Austria won the race, with Selina Egle and Lara Kipp getting their 15th World Cup victory, with Dajana Eitberger and Magdalena Matschina of Germany placing third. The bronze went to Americans Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby.

In men’s singles, Felix Loch of Germany got his second victory of the season and moved atop the World Cup standings headed into the Christmas break.

Loch finished two runs in 1:41.766. Max Langenhan of Germany was second in 1:41.820, while Wolfgang Kindl of Austria was third in 1:41.969.

Jonny Gustafson was eighth and Tucker West was ninth to lead the U.S. men’s contingent.

Andriy Mandziy of Ukraine was 13th, good enough to beat both Russian sliders who were allowed to compete as neutral athletes. Matvei Perestoronin was 16th and Pavel Repilov was 17th.

This weekend’s races were the first World Cup luge events that included Russian athletes since January 2022, shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine. Russians — competing as neutral — are being permitted in some individual sports to compete this winter in an effort to qualify for the Milan Cortina Games.

Bobsled and skeleton

At Sigulda, Latvia, it was again a German sweep of the medals in a two-man race, with Francesco Friedrich snapping Johannes Lochner’s winning streak. Friedrich got gold, Lochner silver and Adam Ammour the bronze.

In monobob, Bree Walker of Australia got her second win of the season, edging Laura Nolte of Germany and Katrin Beierl of Austria. Elana Meyers Taylor was fifth to lead the U.S.

And in men’s skeleton, a mild upset of sorts took place when Marcus Wyatt of Britain defeated teammate Matt Weston. Zheng Yin of China was third.

Up next

Bobsled: World Cup two-woman, two-man races Sunday at Sigulda.

Luge: World Cup men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles on Jan. 3 at Sigulda.

Skeleton: World Cup men’s, women’s and mixed team races on Jan. 2 at Winterberg, Germany.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics