CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — German teammates Julia Taubitz and Mel Freber led the first two rounds of the women’s single luge race at the Cortina Olympics in Milan, finishing ahead of the rest of the field in Tuesday’s medal heats.
Taubitz is the leader, finishing both races on Monday with a time of 1 minute, 45.188 seconds. Vrabel was second with a time of 1:45.249, a considerable gap from third place Elina Bota of Latvia with a time of 1:45.683.
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There were five sliders within two-tenths of a second of Botha’s time, meaning the race for bronze on Tuesday could get tight. Italy’s Verena Hofer ranked fourth with 1:45.743, followed by American Ashley Farquharson (1:45.796), Italian Sandra Robatscher (1:45.801), Austrian Lisa Schulte (1:45.866) and American Emily Fischnaller (1:45.872).
Germany’s Anna Berreiter, the only Olympic medalist in the field with a silver medal at Beijing 2022, was ranked ninth as of Tuesday. Summer Britcher of the United States, a two-time World Cup champion this season, is ranked 12th after the first two rounds.
Taubitz is the defending world champion. She is a six-time world medalist in women’s singles – twice champion and four times runner-up.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics