From Lillehammer, NOR
(November 30, 2024) – In the 2023/2024 World Cup season, the United States took doubles gold in the men’s race. A year later, it was the women’s doubles turn to win in the opener as Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirkby won gold in Lillehammer.
The American duo held a small lead after one run over Germans Jessica Degenhardt and Cheynne Rosenthal, with the remainder of the field a couple of tenths of a second off the pace of the gold medal contenders after a track record run by Forgan and Kirkby.
In the second heat the Germans duplicated their start record pull off the top, and had what looked to be a nearly flawless second effort to take the lead handily over the Latvian team of Marta Robezniece and Kitjia Bogdanova.
The last team off the top in the second heat were the Americans. Forgan and Kirkby had set the track record in the first heat, and early on pulled away from the Germans. Mid-run, though, timing and scoring showed Forgan and Kirkby behind the German duo despite a clean looking run of their own.
The Americans found speed at the bottom of their run. And though it was close, Forgan and Kirkby held off Degenhardt and Rosenthal by .017 to win their first World Cup gold medal.
“We had some really great training this week,” Forgan told FIL TV after the race. “I’m so happy we got to put down two good runs!”
For Kirkby, the victory was bittersweet as it came in the first race back after the passing of her father in the offseason.
“It brings me tears of joy, and a little bit of sadness,” she said. “My dad passed away this summer and he would have been so proud.”
Degenhardt and Rosenthal took silver, with Robezniece and Bogdanova bronze.
Latvians Anda Upite and Zane Kaluma finished fourth, with World Cup champs Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer unable to find the speed they needed in a fifth place effort.
The exit of Curve 13 gave a handful of teams fits in the first race of the season. In the first heat, Dajana Eitberger with new teammate Lena Matschina set the start record but hit the wall hard out of the curve, which eventually sent them over. Unlike Italians Nadia Falkensteiner and Annalena Huber, they were unable to right their sled and did not finish.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Forgan / Kirkby | USA | 10 | 2.351 | 2.350 | 47.406 | 47.523 | 1:34.929 |
| 2 | Degenhardt / Rosenthal | GER | 11 | 2.344 | 2.346 | 47.445 | 47.501 | 1:34.946 |
| 3 | Robezniece / Bogdanova | LAT | 2 | 2.377 | 2.383 | 47.687 | 47.732 | 1:35.419 |
| 4 | Upite / Kaluma | LAT | 9 | 2.373 | 2.369 | 47.770 | 47.732 | 1:35.502 |
| 5 | Vötter / Oberhofer | ITA | 8 | 2.353 | 2.364 | 47.747 | 47.790 | 1:35.537 |
| 6 | Egle / Kipp | AUT | 6 | 2.386 | 2.395 | 48.657 | 47.699 | 1:36.356 |
| 7 | Domowicz / Piwkowska | POL | 5 | 2.403 | 2.393 | 48.328 | 48.476 | 1:36.804 |
| 8 | Stetskiv / Mokh | UKR | 7 | 2.379 | 2.390 | 48.558 | 48.638 | 1:37.196 |
| 9 | Stramaturaru / Manolescu | ROU | 4 | 2.397 | 2.413 | 48.609 | 48.629 | 1:37.238 |
| 10 | Falkensteiner / Huber | ITA | 1 | 2.401 | 2.382 | 51.307 | 49.423 | 1:40.730 |
| DNF | Eitberger / Matschina | GER | 3 | 2.355 | DNF |