Long-distance relationships can be difficult, especially when they go on for years and years. And the one between Olympic luge athletes Emily Sweeney of the U.S. and Dominik Fischnaller of Italy was no different.
It was challenging. It pushed them to the limit at times. They wondered if it was going to work.
And in the ultimate moments, they would ask each other the same question:
“Are we worth it?”
“It was always a ‘Yes,’” Emily Fischnaller said.
Her last name changed last year, so yes, their luge love story got a happy ending. The couple, after dating for about 15 years — basically half their lives — finally got married. And in about a week, at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, not far from their now-permanent home, the Fischnallers will slide for different countries at an Olympics where both are expected to be serious medal hopefuls.
It'll be the fourth Olympics for Dominik, the reigning men's singles bronze medalist, and the third for Emily.
“It's like a huge family fest, or party I would say, which just makes it great," Dominik Fischnaller said. "And I think we will have more time, I think, than other Olympics where we be more together. I want to enjoy this more than I did in other Olympics. Then, I was just focused on sliding, sliding, sliding. I didn’t really experience the atmosphere or anything. I hope this will be different for me this time and Emily is for sure a big part of that.”
There are more than a few couples who'll be together for these Olympics, some of them teammates, some of them competing against each other.
— U.S. alpine skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin — that sport's all-time wins leader — is engaged to Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who returned to racing this season after dealing with major injuries for almost two years.
— Latvia's luge team includes the husband and wife pair of Martins Bots and Elina Bota, both singles sliders.
— American figure skaters Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the favorites to win ice dancing gold, married in 2024.
— U.S. women's hockey star Hilary Knight and U.S. women's speedskating great Brittany Bowe — with six Olympic medals between them — started dating in 2022.
— In women's skeleton, Kim Meylemans of Belgium and Nicole Rocha Silveira of Brazil have the dynamic of being opponents who are married to each other. When Meylemans clinched this season's World Cup title, Silveira — a three-time World Cup bronze medalist, two of those coming with her now-wife in either the gold or silver medal spot — was the first to run to her side for a congratulatory embrace. “Don’t think anyone truly understands how much I needed her with me (pushing & supporting me) to achieve this,” Meylemans wrote on Instagram.
USA Bobsled has a power couple as well, with reigning women's monobob world champion Kaysha Love getting engaged last year to Olympic men's push athlete Hunter Powell. She's in the Olympics for the second time; he is making his Olympic debut.
“We have love for one another, but at the end of the day, he’s my teammate when we’re out there training or practicing," Love said. “For me, it’s a secret weapon, to have a teammate that you know only has trust and belief in you. When I know that I am supported, I just feel like I’m able to do unthinkable things.”
Dominik and Emily Fischnaller say they relate to that.
They began dating when they were teenagers. They would see each other all season, of course, since the luge World Cup tour is basically one big traveling road show hopping between tracks in Europe, North America and Asia. They would find time in the summers to connect as well.
Eventually, they decided to get married. It's not always that simple in Italy; rules and regulations make the process of scheduling a wedding somewhat complex. When the couple got the approval last spring, they pulled it off in nine days — rings were bought quickly, a dress was found fast and off to a courthouse they went with just a few relatives in tow.
“The actual day, it was pretty perfect," Emily Fischnaller said. "Even at the end of the day, Dominik said he had his perfect wedding, which I never thought was possible for him to say.”
They've built a home in Italy by basically rebuilding his childhood home. There's talk of starting a family; the Fischnallers are closer to the end of their competitive careers than they are the beginning, but sliders often say they're going to retire and then find a reason to stick around or come back. In short, what happens after these Olympics isn't totally clear.
“It just feels like we’re setting up a future instead of just living in the present," Emily Fischnaller said. "It's exciting.”
He is an Olympic medalist. She's the bronze medalist from last year's world championships. On any given day, both have proven they can be the best in the world. And they've overcome plenty along the way; Emily Fischnaller broke her neck and back in a run at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and still deals with aftereffects of that crash at times.
“I tell her she can’t get hurt because I feel the pain even 10,000 times more than she feels her own pain,” Dominik Fischnaller said. “I’m extremely nervous when she’s sliding. I almost can’t watch the race.”
But he'll watch her at the Olympics. She'll watch him, too. And if all goes right, they'll watch each other make their way to the medal stand.
Either way, when it's over, they might just ask each other their go-to question one more time.
“Are we worth it?”
The answer, once again, surely will be yes.
“We're here. We're happy," Dominik Fischnaller said. “And we're having a good life.”
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
FILE - Dominik Fischnaller of Italy wins the men's luge overall World Cup, in Winterberg, Germany, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. (Christopher Neundorf/dpa via AP, File)
FILE - Emily Sweeney of the United States waves after the women's sprint race at the Luge World Cup in Igls near Innsbruck, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
