From Whistler, CAN
(December 16, 2023) – It really felt like the women’s luge race in Whistler was going to come down to the thousandth of a second. Throughout the field positions were being decided by a hundredth of a second or less all during both the first and second heats.
But then Julia Taubitz came along and stunk up the show with a win of just over a tenth to lead a German sweep of the podium
After one run Taubitz led USA’s Emily Sweeney and Austria’s Madeleine Egle, with Latvia’s Elina Vitola in fourth.
After Anna Berreiter slid to the lead, it seemed as though nobody could put down a clean second run to take the lead. First Vitola hit the wall out of Curve 16, then Egle just couldn’t quite find the speed she needed in her second run.
Emily Sweeney was the penultimate slider up, and like Vitola was putting down a really nice run until the exit of Curve 16. She got a little squirrely out of the final corner, tapped the wall, went into a skid and fell behind Merle Fräbel into third with only Taubitz to go.
Taubitz’s final slide was about as clean and clear as you could ask for, and won by over a tenth ahead of Berreiter and Fräbel.
Sweeney finished the race in fourth, with Egle in fifth and Vitola in sixth.
Ashley Farquharson looked to have a small issue with her start, but settled to hold her spot from the first heat and finish seventh. Teammate Summer Britcher had a great second run going but a late skid put her in the finish straight wall and dropped her out of the top ten into 12th.
American junior Sophia Gordon had a really clean second slide to move up from 28th in the first heat to 25th in her first senior World Cup race.
Canada was led by their top junior, Embyr-Lee Susko. Susko entered the second heat just outside of the top ten in 12th, tied with Latvia’s Sigita Berzina. She broke the tie by .021 and then out-slid a pile of veterans to move all the way up to ninth place. Teammates Trinity Ellis, Caitlin Nash, and Carolyn Maxwell finished 16th, 18th, and 22nd respectively on home ice.
The race doubled as the America-Pacific championship, in which Sweeney took gold, Farquharson silver, and Susko bronze.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Julia Taubitz | GER | 26 | 3.411 | 3.415 | 39.032 | 39.034 | 1:18.066 |
| 2 | Anna Berreiter | GER | 29 | 3.386 | 3.398 | 39.107 | 39.070 | 1:18.177 |
| 3 | Merle Fräbel | GER | 20 | 3.408 | 3.403 | 39.130 | 39.049 | 1:18.179 |
| 4 | Emily Sweeney | USA | 30 | 3.422 | 3.432 | 39.080 | 39.141 | 1:18.221 |
| 5 | Madeleine Egle | AUT | 25 | 3.400 | 3.390 | 39.087 | 39.139 | 1:18.226 |
| 6 | Elina Vitola | LAT | 24 | 3.376 | 3.384 | 39.094 | 39.134 | 1:18.228 |
| 7 | Ashley Farquharson | USA | 18 | 3.436 | 3.439 | 39.165 | 39.073 | 1:18.238 |
| 8 | Lisa Schulte | AUT | 28 | 3.414 | 3.452 | 39.165 | 39.164 | 1:18.329 |
| 9 | Embyr-Lee Susko | CAN | 17 | 3.416 | 3.440 | 39.238 | 39.166 | 1:18.404 |
| 10 | Kendija Aparjode | LAT | 22 | 3.425 | 3.414 | 39.236 | 39.172 | 1:18.408 |
| 11 | Natalie Maag | SUI | 27 | 3.449 | 3.446 | 39.184 | 39.225 | 1:18.409 |
| 12 | Summer Britcher | USA | 16 | 3.421 | 3.411 | 39.182 | 39.231 | 1:18.413 |
| 13 | Sigita Berzina | LAT | 21 | 3.396 | 3.404 | 39.238 | 39.187 | 1:18.425 |
| 14 | Verena Hofer | ITA | 12 | 3.390 | 3.404 | 39.252 | 39.217 | 1:18.469 |
| 15 | Hannah Prock | AUT | 19 | 3.427 | 3.409 | 39.269 | 39.220 | 1:18.489 |
| 16 | Trinity Ellis | CAN | 15 | 3.424 | 3.434 | 39.260 | 39.309 | 1:18.569 |
| 17 | Sandra Robatscher | ITA | 23 | 3.431 | 3.442 | 39.328 | 39.372 | 1:18.700 |
| 18 | Caitlin Nash | CAN | 14 | 3.407 | 3.415 | 39.390 | 39.419 | 1:18.809 |
| 19 | Barbara Allmaier | AUT | 10 | 3.449 | 3.463 | 39.406 | 39.414 | 1:18.820 |
| 20 | Veronica Ravenna | ARG | 13 | 3.484 | 3.485 | 39.461 | 39.368 | 1:18.829 |
| 21 | Nina Zöggeler | ITA | 8 | 3.124 | 3.431 | 39.478 | 39.368 | 1:18.846 |
| 22 | Carolyn Maxwell | CAN | 11 | 3.406 | 3.411 | 39.471 | 39.486 | 1:18.957 |
| 23 | Yulianna Tunytska | UKR | 9 | 3.407 | 3.414 | 39.625 | 39.675 | 1:19.300 |
| 24 | Franceska Bona | LAT | 6 | 3.435 | 3.436 | 39.698 | 39.711 | 1:19.409 |
| 25 | Sophia Gordon | USA | 7 | 3.452 | 3.463 | 39.980 | 39.675 | 1:19.655 |
| 26 | Hyesun Jung | KOR | 5 | 3.465 | 3.444 | 39.882 | 39.812 | 1:19.694 |
| 27 | Olena Stetskiv | UKR | 1 | 3.425 | 3.433 | 39.972 | 39.828 | 1:19.800 |
| 28 | Klaudia Domaradzka | POL | 4 | 3.419 | 3.431 | 39.851 | 40.003 | 1:19.854 |
| 29 | Ioana-Corina Buzatoiu | ROU | 2 | 3.432 | 3.441 | 40.023 | 39.986 | 1:20.009 |
| 30 | Yubin Shin | KOR | 3 | 3.421 | 3.488 | 40.195 | 40.470 | 1:20.665 |