Summer Britcher smiles and gives a thumbs up after finishing one of her women’s singles runs during the USA Luge start championships in August 2023. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

LAKE PLACID — With the luge season right around the curve, some of the nation’s top luge athletes will gather at the USA Luge refrigerated indoor start training complex on Friday, Sept. 13.

At stake will be the annual start championship title. The competitions will take place at the USA Luge headquarters at 57 Church St. in Lake Placid at 6 p.m.

The event is held annually in late summer and early fall, the competition marks the countdown to the team’s return to the ice in preparation for the World Cup Series.

Ray Brook native and National Team member, Sophia Kirkby said the start championships are a great way to practice for what the real competition is going to be during the season.

“The importance behind start champs would be to compete against each other in a way that also benefits us,” she said on Wednesday, Sept. 4. “We get to start competing and prepping for what the season has to hold. These are nationals but they are really preparing us for international competition.”

Tucker West finishes one of his runs in the men’s singles event during the USA Luge start championships in August 2023 at the team’s headquarters on Church Street in Lake Placid. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Last season, Kirkby and her women’s doubles luge partner Chevonne Forgan of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, won their first title in women’s doubles start championships. The duo went on to have one of the most successful seasons among USA Luge athletes.

They earned six World Cup podium finishes across the women’s doubles, sprint and relay events last season. The duo also won a bronze medal in doubles at the International Luge Federation Luge World Championship in Altenberg, Germany, as well as a silver in the relay event at the World Championships.

Kirkby would love to improve on her results last year. She’s even stronger than she has been in previous seasons, but this summer she’s had to deal with some setbacks as her father died in June.

“He was my biggest supporter. It hasn’t been easy this summer; it’s gone slow in my head,” Kirkby said. “Things are just different now that I have one less person that’s close and following me on the road.”

Her father bobsledded with the Air Force during the 1970s, and was one of the biggest reasons why she turned to a slider as a youngster.

While it’s been a tough summer, she’s excited to finally start the luge season.

“It got cold these last few days and it made me excited for what the season is,” Kirkby said.

Kirkby and Forgan are currently the lone women’s doubles competitors for the start championships. The newly formed duo of Maya Chan of Chicago, Illinois, and Sophia Gordon of Sussex, Wisconsin, will not be competing. Gordon is currently recovering from oral surgery. Chan competed with Reannyn Weiler of Whitesboro starting in 2018, winning three World Cup medals as a duo.

Chan may decide to compete with a temporary teammate for the event. That decision will be made in the coming days.

On the men’s side, Lake Placid World Cup gold medalists Zack DiGregorio of Medway, Massachusetts, and Sean Hollander of Lake Placid are expected to be challenged by reigning Junior World Champions Marcus Mueller of Brookfield, Wisconsin, and Ansel Haugsjaa of Framingham, Massachusetts, in men’s doubles. World Championship team relay silver medalists Dana Kellogg of Chesterfield, Massachusetts, and Frank Ike of Lititz, Pennsylvania, will also be contending. The Junior National Team duo of Barnes and Gavin Davis of Berwick, Pennsylvania, will also compete.

Three-time Olympian Tucker West of Lake Placid hopes to add a 12th title to his long men’s single resume. West, who surpassed the record of 10 wins by former USA Luge athlete Ashley (Hayden) Walden of Lake Placid last year, has consistently been one of the fastest pull starters in the world and he credits his genetics.

“I’m blessed to be a little bit more explosive,” he said on Tuesday, Sept. 3. “But I put the work in and I put a lot of focus on the pulling start ramp. I’ve been pulling starts since I was eight years old it’s a very specific movement that I’ve had a lot of repetitions on and I’ve put a lot of focus on. I don’t know exactly what makes me strong at the start, but I’m fortunate to have found it.”

For West, winning on Sept. 13 would be a confidence boost heading into the season, which kicks off on Nov. 29 in Lillehammer, Norway.

This season, the U.S. will not host an FIL Luge World Cup in either of its two locations — Lake Placid and Park City, Utah. The World Cup season will have four events in Germany, as well as races in Austria, Latvia, Norway and Korea. The World Championships will be held in Whistler, British Columbia.

“It’s always a bummer to not have a World Cup in the U.S,” West said. “The best part is racing in front of friends and family. It really gives you energy during the race and it’s fun to do. Not having it this year is definitely a bummer.”

West hopes that the U.S. will host at least one, maybe even two World Cups next season, heading into the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Italy.

“I think that (would be) a decent trade off to give us a little energy boost going into the Olympics,” he said. “But we still have a North American race this year with the World Championships in Whistler, so I’m looking forward to that. I think alot of people’s friends and family will make it to that as well and that’s one of the prettiest places you can be in North America.”

This World Cup season will also see some changes as the FIL announced in June during its 72nd Congress meeting that it will replace the sprint World Cup with a mixed World Cup for the 2024-25 sliding season.

The sprint World Cup took away the start, as the timer kicked off about 100 to 150 meters after the start ramp. For athletes like West, who are fast off the start, the sprint World Cup effectively stunted his time, since it didn’t use his start time. He said he was glad that the event was replaced.

“They tried the format for a bit too long and they were originally trying to make a new format to get a new discipline into the Olympics and get more medal opportunities, which I think is a good thing,” he said. “I think that’s what the international federation should be doing. They should be trying to push the sport and grow the sport, but the IOC, many years ago, said it wouldn’t be in the Olympics, but we kept trying it. I think they should’ve given up a while ago on it and adjust the format. I’m excited that there are some new people in luge that saw that and they made some changes and doubled down on the relay format, which has been a much more successful format.”

During the start competition on Sept. 13, West will face off against 2022 Olympian Jonny Gustafson of Massena and Hunter Harris of East Fairfield, Vermont. Two-time Junior World Championship medalist Matt Greiner of Park City, Utah, will compete in his first competition as a member of the National Team, having recently graduated from the junior ranks. Junior National Team athletes Aidan Mueller of West Islip and Logan Barnes of Clarksville, Tennessee, will also compete.

The top slot in the women’s race appears to be a contest between Summer Britcher of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania, and Emily Sweeney of Lake Placid. Britcher, a three-time Olympian, has won seven titles since 2015, while two-time Olympian and World Championship bronze medalist Sweeney last took the title in 2021. That won’t stop challengers Ashley Farquharson of Park City, Utah, the top ranked U.S. athlete in women’s World Cup, and Junior Team graduate Emma Erickson of Park City, Utah.

The start championship format will consist of three heats, with the winners earning the lowest combined times. The first two heats will be traditional starts and the third will be a reaction start, as used in the team relay event.

The public is invited to attend and will have a chance to ride down the ramp after the awards ceremony for a $20 donation to support the athletes and programs of USA Luge.