USA Luge's Summer Britcher is flying into the Olympics.
Britcher got her second women's singles luge win of the season on Sunday, moving her atop the World Cup standings and further cementing her status as a medal contender for the Milan Cortina Olympics next month.
She prevailed in Sigulda, Latvia, rallying in the second heat to top Lisa Schulte of Austria and Julia Taubitz of Germany. Britcher's two-run time was 1 minute, 23.840 seconds, while Schulte finished in 1:23.877 and Taubitz in 1:23.931.
It was Britcher's seventh career singles win, extending her all-time record for USA Luge sliders.
“Very, very happy,” Britcher said after her third medal — two golds and a bronze — in three singles races this season. “I've had a lot of ups and downs here in Sigulda, but a long time ago it was like my favorite track and I really loved it. ... It was a lot of fun to feel that joy again on the track here.”
Britcher has a chance to become the first American to win a World Cup overall singles crown. USA Luge has had four World Cup season-long champions — all in men's doubles. Chris Thorpe and Gordy Sheer were the first and then Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin did it three times, the last of those coming in 2002-03.
And — somewhat remarkably — Britcher leads the points standings despite missing a race. USA Luge skipped the season-opening World Cup competition in Winterberg, Germany, because it wasn't factoring into the Olympic qualifying formula.
Britcher was third going into Sunday's second heat; the singles races at Sigulda this weekend used the two-runs-over-two-days format, a bit of preparation for the two-day, four-run event at the Olympics.
Schulte and Taubitz were the only sliders who had a chance to catch Britcher at the end. They came up short, which evidently caught Britcher by a bit of surprise.
“I really did not think it was going to happen,” Britcher said. “I tried really hard to not think about the results. With the one run each day, you have so much time to think about possibilities, so I really was just thinking about, ‘OK, what do I need to do on the track?’ So, I think maybe I had a little anticlimactic smile at the end. I was so shocked.”
Ashley Farquharson was fifth for the U.S. in the women's singles race. Emily Fischnaller, who was fourth entering the second heat, lost control toward the bottom of the track and came off her sled. She did not finish — but walked off appearing to have avoided injury.
Britcher and Farquharson seem well on their way to formal nominations to the Olympic team by USA Luge. There are still multiple paths for Fischnaller to return to the Olympics as well; next weekend's World Cup stop in Winterberg, Germany, likely will decide the fates for several sliders from many countries, including Fischnaller and U.S. men's singles veteran Tucker West.
The Winterberg races are the last Olympic qualifying races of the season.
The women's singles win was one of two medals on the day for Britcher, who also helped USA Luge capture the bronze in the team relay.
Schulte and Austria won the team relay, with host Latvia second and the American team of Britcher, Jonny Gustafson in men’s singles, Zach DiGregorio and Sean Hollander on the men’s doubles sled and Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby on the women’s doubles sled finishing third.
In the men's singles race, two-time Olympic singles champion Felix Loch of Germany got his 55th career win — two away from the all-time record of 57 held by retired Italian great Armin Zöggeler. Jonas Müller of Austria was second and Max Langenhan of Germany was third.
USA Luge plans to announce its Olympic team around Jan. 12, and the U.S. bobsled and skeleton teams for the Milan Cortina Games are expected to be unveiled on Jan. 19.
At Winterberg, the host Germans swept a women's bobsled race Sunday while Kaillie Humphries Armbruster of the U.S. narrowly missed a medal spot.
Laura Nolte drove to the win for Germany, holding off teammates Lisa Buckwitz and Kim Kalicki. Nolte’s two-run time was 1:53.63, which was 0.16 seconds better than Buckwitz and 0.66 seconds ahead of Kalicki.
Humphries Armbruster teamed with Sylvia Hoffman to finish fourth, 0.95 seconds back of Nolte. Elana Meyers Taylor drove to eighth place for the U.S., and Kaysha Love crossed the line 10th.
And in the four-man race later Sunday, the season of absolute dominance for Germany continued.
Francesco Friedrich drove to the win, Johannes Lochner was second and Adam Ammour rallied in the second heat to finish third, giving Germany its eighth sweep in 10 World Cup two- and four-man races this season.
Those three sleds were separated by a mere 0.06 seconds.
The Germans now have 28 World Cup medals this season in men's bobsled. The rest of the world combined has two — a bronze for South Korea and a bronze for Italy.
Kris Horn drove to an eighth-place finish for the U.S. in the four-man race, while Frank Del Duca's sled finished 16th.
Bobsled: Women's monobob, two-man World Cup races Saturday at St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Skeleton: Men's World Cup race on Wednesday at St. Moritz.
Luge: Men's singles, women's singles World Cup races on Saturday at Winterberg.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
FILE - Summer Britcher of the United States gestures during the women's singles race at the Luge World Championships in Oberhof, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan acknowledges that sharing a name and party affiliation with the incumbent Republican gives him “an instant megaphone" in the crowded primary race. But Sullivan said his campaign isn't a sham or something Democrats put him up to doing.
He said friends for years have jokingly referred to him as senator and asked if he has ever thought about running. He said he’s been considering it for more than a decade.
“This is my choice,” Sullivan, who lives in the small fishing community of Petersburg, said in a telephone interview Monday.
Last week, Sen. Dan Sullivan accused the challenger Sullivan of “trying to trick” voters to help his main rival in the race, Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. The senator suggested the other Sullivan's entrance in the August primary was part of a coordinated effort by Democrats and Peltola's campaign to confuse voters, an accusation they deny. He threatened litigation to get to the bottom of it.
The issue is of national concern to Republicans because they are seeking to hold onto their majority in the U.S. Senate in what is expected to be a difficult midterm election year for the party in power. Sullivan, the challenger, dismissed claims that his candidacy is a merely a ruse to undermine the senator's reelection chances.
He said he has had no contact with Peltola's campaign — “zero, none, zilch” — and said “no” when asked if anyone from the state Democratic Party or any national Democratic operatives had contacted him to run.
A Peltola spokesperson, Harry Child, has said the campaign “has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign.” The executive director of the Alaska Democratic Party, Jenny-Marie Stryker, said her organization “is in no way affiliated with either Dan Sullivan.” A Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson, Monica Robinson, replied “no” when asked if the group had been involved in urging the challenger Sullivan to run.
Sullivan called sharing a name with the Alaska's incumbent U.S. senator “a matter of fate” and said he had done nothing wrong.
“I have every right to run for whatever office I'm qualified for, and I’m qualified for this office,” the challenger said, adding: “I think I’m doing what most Americans would think would be a patriotic thing to do when you’re unsatisfied with the status quo. You stand up and say, I’m going to fight for things I believe that are going to make my community better.”
Ballots in prior years in Alaska have not identified the incumbent, but the Alaska Division of Elections’ current candidate list online does. It also distinguishes the candidates using a middle initial — Dan S. Sullivan for the senator and Dan J. Sullivan for the challenger.
Alaska has open primaries in which the top four vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the ranked choice general election in November. Sen. Sullivan's campaign worries having two Dan Sullivans on the ballot could confuse voters.
Sen. Sullivan's campaign, in a statement Monday, said, “Alaskans deserve a fair and honest election — not political games meant to manipulate the ballot and benefit Democrats.”
The challenger said he was registered with the limited government-leaning Alaskan Independence Party for decades, until the party's dissolution late last year. Election officials had said voters registered with the party could change their affiliation but if they did not, they'd be shown as “undeclared.” Sullivan said he then was listed as undeclared until filing to run for office, when he registered as Republican.
He said he was motivated in part by his late father, whom he described as a “true, compassionate, conservative Republican.” He said if he had to label himself, it would be “a pragmatic Republican centrist” — similar to Alaska's senior U.S. senator, Lisa Murkowski, but “with touches of a Rand Paul Republican in there.”
He said he grew up in the Chicago area but was drawn to Alaska and put down roots nearly 50 years ago in Petersburg. The fishing community of about 3,400 in southeast Alaska's Tongass National Forest is known as “Little Norway” for its many residents with Scandinavian roots. He worked for the U.S. Forest Service before changing careers and becoming a teacher. He has since retired.
Like most communities in Alaska, Petersburg isn't connected to the state's main road system and is accessible only by air or water. Juneau, the nearest city, is about 45 minutes away by plane.
Petersburg sits on Mitkof Island, which is distinguished by mountains, thick stands of forest and boggy areas called muskeg. Sea lions hauled up on buoys and humpback whales and orcas are common sights off its shores.
Sullivan, who will turn 69 this weekend, passed on an interview request last Friday, he said, because the king salmon were running and he wanted to fish.
As far as his run for office, the challenger said he plans to do some fundraising and hopes to campaign in the state's larger cities, including Anchorage and Juneau, but he so far has no firm plans to do so and is working on the details.
He finds the current dustup over his Senate run — and the incumbent's reaction — a bit surprising.
“I guess my thought would be, ‘Dude, why don’t you just run your campaign?’ If you’ve got a strong record, run on your record. People will love you for it and you’ll be swept back into office,” he said Monday. “Why would he be concerned that a guy out of Petersburg is this huge threat?”
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, heads to a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
