CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Ashley Farquharson slid into a bronze medal Tuesday night in the women’s singles luge competition at the Cortina Sliding Center, delivering a historic result for Team USA. Farquharson finished third behind Germany’s Julia Taubitz, who won gold, and Latvia’s Elina Bota, who took silver with a three-hundredths of a second lead. Farquharson posted a combined time of 2:38.673. This is the United States’ second-ever medal in women’s singles luge since Erin Hamlin won bronze at the 2014 Sochi Games. It also makes Farquharson the third American to medal in singles luge, following Chris Mazdzer’s silver at PyeongChang in 2018. “Wow, it really didn’t feel real,” she said. As Farquharson crossed the finish line and saw her name soar to the top of the board, she immediately put her head in her hands in disbelief. Friends and family rushed the track to greet her as tears rolled down her face, knowing that no matter how the final two competitors did, she had earned a medal. Bota slid in just ahead of her, and Taubitz took the lead by 0.7 seconds. Farquharson ended Monday night’s competition feeling less than great about her first two runs. She knew she had made some significant mistakes and was sure she had lost her chance at an Olympic medal. Ending the day in fifth gave her the last needed boost to believe this historic win could be possible.  Credit: David Jackson/Park Record Credit: David Jackson/Park Record For her third run, Park City luge athlete Ashley Farquharson needed to bump her standings up from a fifth-place finish after Monday’s first two runs. “I messed up yesterday, pretty bad,” she said. “I hit at the bottom, and I was kind of like, ‘Oh, it must be over.’ And then I was only in fifth, and if I can have a mistake like that and still be in fifth, I got nothing to worry about.” Farquharson said the field is strong across the board, but no one motivates her more than the women on her team.  “Honestly, my biggest inspirations are my teammates, because I work so closely with them, and I see how much work they put in and the dedication that it takes,” Farquharson said. “I’m always emulating them, trying to be flatter and more relaxed and smoother in curves.” While Farquharson took her place at the start, her serious gaze turned to a smile and she laughed at some final words of wisdom from her coach. In the stands, Ashley’s parents watched her final runs, excited but terrified.  “I just knew if I got tense right then, I would have no one to blame but myself,” Farquharson said. “My coach was behind me, and he yelled at me, and it just made me laugh in his funny Slovakian voice. And it made me smile.” Her father, Ben Farquharson, said the thrill of Ashley’s third run quickly gave way to nerves once the fourth began. “We were so excited with that third run,” Ben said. “To be honest, I wasn’t even nervous until the fourth run started. I just wanted her to have a clean and fast fourth run.” Farquharson’s final run had the crowd at the edge of their seats, with her splits alternating ahead and behind the lead by hundredths of a second. The crowd oscillated between screams of joy and regret with every passing second of uncertainty. But in the stands, the tension was highest for her parents. “It was bouncing back and forth: red, green, red, green,” Ben said. “I think my heart stopped every time the screen changed. It was quite emotional, quite exciting, and honestly, the best lead race I’ve ever seen in my entire life.” Farquharson began sliding at age 11 through the Youth Sports Alliance’s after-school luge program. With this medal, she said, she hopes the result brings more attention to the sport in the United States and helps grow youth participation. “I’d love to see more youth involvement, and to find better ways to keep kids in the sport,” she said. Ashley Farquharson, center, holds up her bronze medal with dad Ben and mom Stacey. Credit: David Jackson/Park Record For Ben and mom Stacey, it was the support system the family found in the Park City community, Youth Sports Alliance programs and the Wasatch Luge Club that shaped Ashley’s path to Olympic bronze.  “We work with our children and want to give them the opportunities to achieve whatever they possibly can,” Ben said. “For the Park City community to be there to support us with YSA and the Wasatch Luge Club, it was a total team effort.” Stacey said watching her daughter achieve a goal she had pursued for much of her life was hugely emotional, and the same went for the crowd, as Ashley’s tearful reaction was shared by many watching from the sidelines. “When you see your daughter reach her goals like that and be so emotional about it, it makes you so happy for them and emotional as well,” Stacey said. Farquharson’s teammate, four-time Olympian Summer Britcher, who ended her race in 14th place on Tuesday, said she struggled with speed throughout the season and did not deliver the performance she wanted. “Well, I didn’t do too well. That’s one way to sum it up,” Britcher said. “I had some problems in speed training, problems with speed all season, and just didn’t perform my best.”  Regardless of her own results, Britcher was happy to support her teammates and excited to watch the girls she grew up training with succeed. “It’s a wild mix of emotions watching them race, but at the heart of it all, I’m just so happy to support my teammates,” she said. Emphasizing the closeness of the U.S. group and the relationships built over years of training together, Britcher pointed to teammate and Parkite Emma Erickson, who was in attendance to support the team. “It is amazing having these girls. I have known them all a very long time; we train together,” Britcher said. Team USA’s Emily Fischnaller ended Monday’s first two runs in 8th place, ready to push to the podium; she left Tuesday in fifth. She said she approached her runs with an all-out mindset and left the competition proud of her effort, even without the finish she wanted. “I came into it knowing I had to go all out, and I didn’t leave anything behind,” Fischnaller said. “That’s how I can walk away being proud even though the result is not what I wanted.” After the race, Farquharson said she planned to celebrate with family and friends in attendance and then recover ahead of the team relay on Thursday, where she said she’d be back for another medal. “She locked it down,” said Ben. “We knew at that point that she was going to be on the podium, and I was almost dumbfounded. We focus so much on the competition and the sport itself, and then suddenly you don’t really know what to do with yourself next.” What’s next for Farquharson? Well, her classes at Purdue Global begin just two days after the closing ceremony on Feb. 22, so she’ll have plenty to keep busy, she said, plus some scheduled time with her couch and her favorite video game. The post Park City’s Farquharson takes historic bronze in Cortina appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less