CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — For Italy, it was a double-gold night in doubles luge. And for the U.S., the wait for the biggest prize in the sport will continue.
Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner of Italy rallied in the second heat to win the Olympic men’s doubles gold medal at the Milan Cortina Games on Wednesday night, finishing in 1 minute, 45.086 seconds. That win for the home country came about an hour after Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer
won the women’s doubles luge race.
Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl of Austria were second in 1:45.154 and Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany — the back-to-back-to-back Olympic champions coming into Wednesday — gave up their crown but still medaled, finishing third in 1:45.176.
They won gold in Sochi, Pyeongchang and Beijing, taking every men's doubles gold at the Olympics since Andreas Linger and Wolfgang Linger won the race for Austria at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
For the U.S., Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa were the leaders at the midway point of the two-run race, making some Olympic history for USA Luge. No American sled had ever had the lead in an Olympic race with one run to go; for that matter, no American sled had ever held the lead after any full heat.
But a mistake in the second run doomed their shot at giving USA Luge its first-ever Olympic title, and they finished sixth in 1:45.293. Zack DiGregorio and Sean Hollander of the U.S. were eighth in 1:45.467.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
