Like pretty much all things luge, Ashley Farquharson and Brittney Arndt will experience their first world championships together.
The competition will run from Friday through Sunday in Sochi, Russia, on the track used for the 2014 Olympics. Arndt, 21, and Farquharson, 20, both of Park City, will be among seven Team USA athletes entered. They will make up two-thirds of a women’s team looking to build upon the United States’ recent success at the championships, including a gold medal by Erin Hamlin in 2017 and a bronze by Emily Sweeney last year.
For Farquharson, a rookie on the World Cup circuit, and Arndt, a journeyman, the pressure can be difficult to ward off. At least when it starts to build, they have each other to lean on.
“Ashley and I have been sliding together since literally Day 1. We took our first runs together in the sixth grade,” said Arndt, who along with Farquharson found the sport through an after-school program at Ecker Hill Middle School. “It’s cool to have someone that — we grew up together, we went to school together, we were in the same classes together.
“I think everyone else (on Team USA) is from pretty much from the East Coast, so it’s cool to have someone else from Park City.”
(Photo courtesy of Fred Zimny/USA Luge) Brittney Arndt of Park City will make her FIL World Luge Championships debut this weekend, Feb. 14-16, 2020, on the track used in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. USA Luge teammate Ashley Farquharson, who attended Ecker Hill Middle School in Park City with Arndt and has been sliding with her 'since Day 1' will also be making her world championship debut.
While competing for a senior world title, both young sliders will simultaneously be competing for the U23 women’s title facing many competitors they’ve been sliding against for years.
“I don’t know if it takes any pressure off, but it definitely adds a second tone to it,” Farquharson said. “Even if you don’t have the fastest race at worlds, you know a lot of girls [who are older than 22] are going to be taken out of that U23 category, so you might have a better ranking. It’s more of a confidence boost than anything.”
Summer Britcher, who won the first U23 gold in 2017 at her third world championships, said she has made herself available to answer any questions her young teammates might have. With Sweeney, the 2019 bronze medalist, expected to miss the event with neck issues, Britcher enters the championships as USA Luge’s best chance for some hardware. Last week she took the singles bronze at a World Cup stop in Oberhof, Germany, and she is ranked No. 6 overall. Farquharson is sitting at No. 16 and Arndt is ranked No. 20.
Another teammate who might be able to understand where the young sliders are coming from is Chris Mazder, a Saranac Lake, N.Y., native who now lives in Salt Lake City. Mazder, 31, has competed in every world championship since 2011 and in three Olympics, becoming the first man from USA Luge to win a medal when he took silver in PyeongChang in 2018. Still, he said he feels a little like a newbie since he will be competing with teammate Jayson Terdiman in doubles in Sochi. Mazder competed in singles when he was there for the 2014 Olympics.
“Singles and doubles are drastically different,” Mazder said. “The reason it takes athletes so long to become good at luge is they have to develop an autopilot to take down the track. You’re developing things at essentially a natural reaction. The problem is, after taking so many runs in singles, I have to reprogram my brain to doubles. Those reactions are different.”
Mazder has been dealing with neck issues all season and Terdiman injured his neck in a similar fashion during their race in Norway. The pair skipped two World Cup stops while working with a chiropractor and returned last week to team with Brichter and Tucker West to take silver in the team relay in Oberhof. They placed 12th overall in men’s doubles and they both said they are feeling close to 100%.
