Team USA’s relay team poses after winning a silver medal in a luge World Cup race in St. Moritz, Switzerland on Feb. 19. Pictured from left are, Sean Hollander, Zack DiGregorio, Tucker West and Emily Sweeney. (Provided photo — FIL/Mareks Galinovskis)

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — USA luge’s relay team of Emily Sweeney, Tucker West and the doubles team of Zack DiGregorio and Sean Hollander found themselves on the podium at the FIL (International Luge Federation) World Cup competition in St. Moritz, Switzerland this past weekend.

The team picked up a silver medal and was only edged out by the foursome from Germany silver in the team relay event.

The World Cup event marked the penultimate of nine stops for the 45th FIL World Cup season.

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Team relay

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Sweeney, of Lake Placid, was the first sled to hit the ice for the United States. She made a small mistake exiting the famous Horseshoe curve but maintained enough speed to be within striking range of the top teams.

West, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, had the fastest reaction time out of the start gate, followed by a clean run.

“I’m really excited to leave St. Moritz with a medal in the team relay. After yesterday’s race, it was clear that I didn’t have the correct setup for this track or these weather conditions,” West said in a statement. “(USA Luge coaches) Lubo (Mick) and Kaspars (Dumpis) spent hours last night redoing the sled set up to find more speed today. I think we’re still a long way from where we need to be but hopefully, it was a step in the right direction. The team is always strong racing together, so it’s great to see that pay off.”

Like West before them, DiGregorio, of Medway, Massachusetts, and Hollander, of Lake Placid, posted the fastest reaction time of the race. After successfully negotiating the longest track on the World Cup circuit, the duo hit the paddle and stopped the clock in two minutes, 5.555 seconds, good enough for the silver medal.

“We are super stoked about getting a silver here in St. Moritz,” Hollander said.

“Today was a great race with all the work we have done throughout the year, so it’s great to see some results,” DiGregorio said. “We still need to make some progress for sure, but we’re finally on the right track. Our coaches are working hard and all the support we have is amazing, so now we need to make that final step.”

Team Germany’s Dajana Eitberger, Max Langenhan and the doubles team of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, won the race in 2:51.301, with Team Austria’s Madeleine Egle, Nico Gleirscher, and Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller taking bronze in 2:51.716.

Germany broke the tie with Latvia for first place in the overall standings with 455 points and placed Latvia in second with 415. Team USA is in third with 265 points.

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Women’s doubles

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Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirkby led Team USA, placing fifth in the women’s doubles competition on Feb. 18.

The American team of Forgan, of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and Kirkby, of Ray Brook, had two clean runs and finished fifth in 1:50.768 It was a nail-biting race between the gold and silver medal. World Champions Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal of Germany won the gold and earned their 10th podium finish of the season with a time of 1:49.577. The Germans crossed the finish line just ahead of Italy’s Andrea Vtter and Marion Oberhofer, who took silver with a time of 1:49.579. Latvia’s Viktorija Ziedina and Selina Zvilna placed third, marking their first podium of this season, finishing in 1:50.703.

Vtter/Oberhofer remain the overall World Cup leaders with 940 points. Selina Egle and Lara Kipp from Austria are in second with 815, and Degenhardt/Rosenthal are in third with 813. Forgan/Kirkby are fourth with 580 points. The U.S. teams of Maya Chan of Chicago, Illinois and Reannyn Weiler of Whitesboro finished their season with 428 points, and Sweeney and Summer Britcher of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania finished their season with 295 points.

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Men’s doubles

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In another close race, Germany’s Wendl and Arlt took advantage of fast starts, solid driving and excellent sled preparation to win the gold medal in 1:47.183. Teammates Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken took silver in 1:47.228, with Latvia’s Martins Bots and Roberts Plume in third with a time of 1:47.424.

2022 Olympians DiGregorio and Hollander continued their consistent season, placing seventh in 1:47.859.

Wendl/Arlt sit on top of the World Cup overall standings, with 914 points. Eggert/Benecken are in second with 870 points, while Bots/Plume are in third with 711. DiGregorio/Hollander hold eighth with 476 points. Dana Kellogg of Chesterfield, Massachusetts and Duncan Segger of Lake Placid finished the season with 254 points.

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Women’s singles

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Coming into St. Moritz, the U.S. squad, like many other teams, pared down the number of athletes competing in the final two events of the season. Sweeney was the only athlete representing the United States in the race on Feb. 19.

The first heat rankings saw Sweeney sitting in third place, a scant .107 seconds from the lead. Following problems in the middle section of the track on her second run, she dropped back to 11th place with a time of 1:48.754. Germany secured a podium sweep, with Dajana Eitberger taking gold in 1:48.396, Julia Taubitz with silver in 1:48.406, and Anna Berreiter in third in 1:48.467.

“It was a bummer to have the mistakes I had in the second run of my singles race. I’m really happy I was able to do enough in the team relay to give the guys a chance at a podium,” Sweeney said. “They had great runs and really earned it for us all. Zack and Sean’s moms were here so it was great to celebrate with a bit of home on the road and enjoy a good ending to St. Moritz.”

Taubitz remains at the top of the World Cup overall standings in first place with 892 points. Eitberger is in second with 802, and Berreiter is third with 719. Sweeney is in fifth place with 542. After finishing their season in Winterberg last weekend, Americans Ashley Farquharson of Park City, Utah earned 343 points, Summer Britcher has 279 and Brittany Arndt with 222.

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Men’s singles

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The temperature continued to climb in St. Moritz for the men’s race resulting in softer ice conditions on Feb. 18. Germany’s Langenhan won his fourth consecutive World Cup gold medal of the season with a time of 2:13.596. Three-time Olympic gold medalist Felix Loch of Germany won silver in 2:13.607, and Latvia’s Kristers Aparjods placed third in 2:13.948.

West, one of the strongest athletes at the start, launched off the water-soaked ramp with a pair of third-place start times. He finished in 14th with a time of 2:15.001 as he and USA Luge continue to search for more speed in his sled set-up.

Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller is first place in the overall standings with 757 points. Loch is in second with 721, and Wolfgang Kindl of Austria is in third with 600. U.S. athletes are led by West in ninth with 434 points. Jonny Gustafson of Massena ended his season with 327 points. 2018 Olympic silver medalist Chris Mazdzer only competed in North America and finished his season with 114 points.