CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Julia Taubitz added a new chapter to Germany's Olympic luge dominance. Elina Bota made some history for Latvia.
And Ashley Farquharson was moved to tears — after giving USA Luge just the seventh medal in its Olympic history.
Taubitz rolled to the win in the women's singles race at the Milan Cortina Olympics, finishing her two-day, four-run strut to the gold in 3 minutes, 30.625 seconds — nearly a full second ahead of Bota, who got the silver.
Farquharson got the bronze, the third singles medal ever for USA Luge at the Olympics and matching the best finish by an American women's slider. Chris Mazdzer got silver in men's singles at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, and Erin Hamlin got the women's bronze at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
This time, it was Farquharson's turn.
Taubitz got the 17th gold medal awarded in women's singles luge, and the 13th that went to a German slider.
The Olympic singles gold medal was the only thing missing on Taubitz's resume.
She's a two-time women's singles world champion, a five-time World Cup overall champion, a winner of more than 30 World Cup races and none of that takes into account how she has piled up medals as part of Germany's near-unbeatable team relays.
And now, the biggest medal. The shiniest one, too. She's the Olympic champion, taking over that crown from now-retired German great Natalie Geisenberger, who won the last three gold medals.
Emily Fischnaller was 12th for the Americans in 3:33.035, falling from fifth after three runs with some trouble in her final heat. Summer Britcher of the U.S., a two-time World Cup race winner this season and now a four-time Olympian, was 14th in 3:33.553.
Taubitz and Fraebel were so far ahead of the field entering Tuesday that the only way they wouldn't win gold and silver was if someone committed a huge mistake.
Fraebel did exactly that.
It took about one second for her gold chance — or any medal chance — to be gone. Fraebel badly botched the start of her third run, bouncing off the wall and ping-ponging her way down the rest of the track. She went from second entering the third run to 10th entering the last, way out of medal contention.
And that meant, for the fourth run, Taubitz didn't even have to get into fourth gear. With a lead of 0.704 seconds going into the final heat, there was no doubt that Taubitz would get gold.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Mike Caggiano said:
Another super column Annie. I for one (and I'm sure I'm not alone). Hard to believe you've had 100 entries. All the best. MC
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