88 articles
Jan Behrendt
Jan Behrendt (born 1967, Ilmenau) is a German doubles luge racer who with Stefan Krauße won Olympic gold in 1992 and 1998, silver 1988, bronze 1994, plus four world titles, retiring after Nagano 1998.
Jens Muller
Jens Müller (Jens Muller), German luger born 1965 in Torgau; 1988 Olympic singles gold for East Germany, 1998 bronze, 2000 world champion, later Germany's skeleton national coach 2002-2018.
Jessica Degenhardt
Jessica Degenhardt (Jessica Doreen Degenhardt, born 2002, Dresden) is a German luger, RRC Altenberg; with Cheyenne Rosenthal she was the first women's doubles luge world champion (2022) and won world titles in 2022, 2023, and 2025.
Jochen Pietzsch
Jochen Pietzsch (born 1963, Halle/Saale), East German doubles luger with Jörg Hoffmann: 1984 Sarajevo bronze, 1988 Calgary Olympic gold, world titles 1983, 1985, 1987, 1990 team.
Johannes Ludwig
Johannes Ludwig (born 1986, Suhl, Germany) is a retired German luger, 2022 Olympic men's singles champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist, 2021/22 overall World Cup winner; retired May 2022.
Jon Owen
Jon Owen (Jonathan Douglas Owen, born 1963, Berlin, New Hampshire) is an American luger who placed 23rd in men's singles at the 1988 Calgary Olympics, first slid the Park City 2002 Olympic track, and later coached for USA Luge.
Jorg Hoffmann (olympedia 86702)
Jörg Hoffmann (born 1963, Sondershausen) is a German former luger; with Jochen Pietzsch he won 1988 Olympic doubles gold, 1984 bronze, and four world titles for East Germany. Not the swimmer of the same name.
Josef Feistmantl
Josef Feistmantl (1939–2019), Austrian luger from Absam, Tirol; with Manfred Stengl the first Olympic doubles luge champion at Innsbruck 1964, 1969 world singles champion, 1976 Innsbruck flame lighter.
Julia Taubitz
Julia Taubitz, German luger (born 1996, Annaberg-Buchholz), 2026 Olympic gold medalist in women's singles and mixed team relay, eight-time world champion, five-time consecutive overall World Cup winner.
Juris Šics
Juris Šics (born 1983, Sigulda) is a Latvian luger who raced doubles with brother Andris Šics, winning Olympic silver 2010 and two bronzes 2014 across five Games, retiring after 2021/22.
Klaus Michael Bonsack
Klaus Michael Bonsack (1941–2023) was a German luger who competed for East Germany and won four Olympic medals, including doubles gold with Thomas Köhler at Grenoble 1968.
Kristers Aparjods
Kristers Aparjods, born in 1998 in Sigulda, Latvia, is a Latvian luger who won team relay bronze at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and five World Cup races.
Kurt Brugger
Kurt Brugger (born 1969), Italian luge racer; with Wilfried Huber won Olympic doubles gold at Lillehammer 1994 (1:36.720). Competed in four Winter Olympics, 1988-1998, later Italian national head coach.
Luge
Luge: winter sliding sport, French for sled, in which athletes race supine, feet first, down an ice track at about 100 mph without brakes; Olympic since 1964 Innsbruck, governed by the FIL, with singles, doubles, and team relay events.
Luge at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics
Luge at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics (Lausanne/St. Moritz): five events at the natural-ice Olympia Bob Run, 17–20 January 2020. Germany won three golds; Latvia's Gints Berzins took men's singles gold, his country's first of the Games.
Luge at the Winter Olympics
Luge at the Winter Olympics is a sliding sport where athletes race sleds down an icy track at about 100 mph, an Olympic event since 1964.
Luge World Cup
Luge World Cup (EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup), annual FIL artificial-track luge series since 1977/78 in singles, doubles, and team relay; Olympic qualification basis; Eberspächer title sponsor since 2020/21.
Madeleine Egle
Madeleine Egle, Austrian luger (born 1998, Hall in Tirol), Olympic relay silver and bronze medalist, 2024 European champion, suspended 20 months for whereabouts failures, comeback announced 2026.
Magdalena Matschina
Magdalena Matschina (born 2005, Bad Aibling) is a German luger in women's doubles. With Dajana Eitberger she won 2026 Olympic silver in doubles and team relay gold, after 2025 Worlds bronze and mixed silver.
Manfred Schmid
Manfred Schmid (born 1944, Liezen, Austria), Austrian luger; Olympic singles champion and doubles silver medalist with Ewald Walch at Grenoble 1968; four-time Olympian and two-time world doubles champion.
Manfred Stengl
Manfred Stengl (1946–1992), Austrian luger, bobsledder, and motorcycle racer. With Josef Feistmantl he won the first Olympic doubles luge gold at Innsbruck 1964; four-man world bronze 1975; died at the 1992 Isle of Man TT.
Margit Schumann
Margit Schumann (1952–2017), East German luger, 1976 Olympic champion and 1972 bronze medalist in women's singles; four-time world champion (1973–75, 1977), three-time European champion, first woman in the FIL Hall of Fame.
Marion Oberhofer
Marion Oberhofer (born 2000, San Candido, Italy) is an Italian luger who with Andrea Vötter won the first Olympic women's doubles gold at Milano Cortina 2026, plus relay bronze, two World Cup titles, and the 2023 European title.
Markus Prock
Markus Prock, Austrian artificial-track luger born 1964 in Innsbruck, competed at six Olympics 1984-2002, winning silver 1992 and 1994 and bronze 2002 behind Georg Hackl; ten World Cup overall titles, 33 race wins, later Austrian Luge Federation president.
Mārtiņš Rubenis
Mārtiņš Rubenis, Latvian luger (born 1978, Rīga), 2006 Turin Olympic singles bronze, Latvia's first Winter Olympic medalist, 2014 relay bronze; later national team coach, mechanic, and sled designer at Riga Technical University. Not the hockey player Lejnieks or athlete Viesturs Mārtiņš Rubenis.
Miriam Kastlunger
Miriam Kastlunger is a retired Austrian luger, born in Innsbruck in 1994, who won the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics girls' singles luge title on her home track.
Moritz Jager
Moritz Jäger (born 2003) is a German doubles luger who competes with Valentin Steudte and won boys' doubles gold and mixed relay silver at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics.
Natalie Geisenberger
Natalie Geisenberger (Natalie Geisenberger-Scheer), born 1988 in Munich, is a retired German luger, the most decorated Olympic luger with 6 golds and 1 bronze, three straight singles titles 2014-2022, 9 world titles, retired 2023.
Natural track luge technique and equipment
Natural track luge technique and equipment cover the minimal two-runner sleds, weight limits up to 20 kg, and body-based steering used on naturally iced mountain tracks.
Natural track luge tracks
Natural track luge tracks are luge courses that follow a mountainside's natural terrain and are iced without artificial refrigeration, with classic venues in the Austrian and Italian Alps.