Ashley Farquharson, Gustafson and Nagler/Malleier win Nations Cup in Whistler

Whistler (FIL/14 Dec 2023) Ashley Farquharson (USA), Jonathan Gustafson (USA) and Ivan Nagler / Fabian Malleier (ITA) won the second FIL Nations Cup of the season at the Whistler Sliding Centre, the Olympic track of Vancouver 2010, on Thursday, December 14, 2023.

Ashley Farquharson was again the fastest female luger in the second Nations Cup of the 2023/2024 season with 39.161 seconds. The 24-year-old from New York also won the Nations Cup on her home track a week earlier and impressed with a fifth-place finish at the season's first EBERSPAECHER World Cup. The other two podium places went to local heroes Embyr-Lee Susko (+0.032) and Midori Holland (+0.144).

“Starting with a victory into the race weekend gives you a little confidence boost for the World Cup. The competition was strong and it’s really nice to see that the Canadian athletes' program brings up such great young new female athletes”, said Farquharson, who finished seventh in the Olympic team relay 2022. Young Canadians Susko and Holland celebrated their success together. It wasn't the first time for 18-year-old Embyr-Lee Susko: "I have raced a Nations Cup in Altenberg before. But today I improved from ninth to second place. Things are looking up and it's a very good feeling that makes me proud. I just wanted to have fun, but it's incredible to have won my first senior medal this way. For 20-year-old Midori Holland, who started luge twelve years ago on her home track in Whistler, it was her first Nations Cup appearance: "It's a great experience to race at home and win your first senior medal in front of your friends and family. It's just a lot of fun."

USA's Jonathan Gustafson was the fastest in the men's race, earning his first Nations Cup victory of the season after finishing second in Lake Placid. The 26-year-old from Lake Placid won in 50.572 seconds ahead of Australia's Alexander Ferlazzo (+0.009) and Ukraine's Anton Dukach (+0.257). "My run wasn't too bad. I still have to correct some mistakes for the World Cup race. A win is a win and it's always a good way to start the weekend, especially because it was really hard to win against Alex. In the end I was nine thousandths faster and that's great," said Gustafson. Alex Ferlazzo finished on the podium for the third time in the Nations Cup. He took his first win in Sigulda earlier this year: "It's very interesting and fun. Jonny beat me by one thousandth of a second in Lake Placid and now by nine thousandths here. Sometimes it goes back and forth, we are having a lot of fun and are looking forward to more races," said the 28-year-old student from Townsville in tropical Queensland, which is better known for its surfing champions than its winter athletes.

In the men's doubles, two Italians, Ivan Nagler and Fabian Malleier, were honored as winners. Nagler, the 24-year-old Carabinieri from San Martino in Badia and Malleier, a 25-year-old student from Völlan/Lana, led from start to finish and won the FIL Nations Cup with a time of 32.826 seconds. The winners of the Youth Olympic Games Lausanne 2020, Moritz Jäger and Valentin Steudte (GER), were eleven hundredths of a second behind and 18-year-old Marcus Mueller from Brookfield, Wisconsin, and 19-year-old Ansel Haugsjaa from Framingham, Massachusetts, USA, were 23 hundredths of a second behind. "The Nations Cup run was already better than the training runs before, but there are still some things to improve for the World Cup," said Fabian Malleier after the medal ceremony.

Women's doubles is the newest discipline in the EBERSPAECHER World Cup. It will be on the program for the first time at the Olympic Winter Games in February 2026. None of the women's doubles had to compete in the Nations Cup on December 14, 2023 in Whistler to qualify for the World Cup. 14 teams have already qualified and will participate in the seeded group training on Friday, December 15.

Detailed results and further information on the 2nd EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup of the 2023/24 season in Whistler (CAN), the Nations Cup and the training sessions can be found at the following link: fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/eberspaecher-world-cup-27