Winter Olympics 2026: Germany's Julia Taubitz finally claims Olympic gold in dominant luge display
Germany win a second Olympic luge medal in as many days, with Elina Bota claiming a sensational silver for Latvia and Team USA's Ashley Farquharson winning bronze.
Hot favourite Julia Taubitz won Olympic gold in women's singles luge at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Tuesday (10 February) almost a second ahead of her nearest rival, Latvia's super-consistent Elina Bota.
Taubitz, the reigning world champion, claimed the win of a lifetime with four faultless runs in a time of 3:30.625, while Bota bagged silver with 3:31.543.
Team USA's Ashley Farquharson registered 3:31.582 for the bronze medal.
"It means everything," said Taubitz, who secured Germany's eighth Olympic gold medal in the event. "It was a dream, and now the dream comes true. I’m so happy and thankful about it.
"I cried the last corner before (the end) because I knew the run was good, it must be possible."
“I have no words," said Bota. "It feels amazing. So much work was done, and now I’m the silver medallist at this Olympics. I’m so incredibly happy."
Farquharson, meanwhile, playfully put her success down to having sparkles on her face. “I think it definitely helps, I don’t think I’ll ever race without it. If you see me racing without glitter, call me up.”
The home nation pairing of Verena Hofer (3:31.645) and Sandra Robatscher (3:31.732) finished just off the podium in fourth and fifth, respectively, with Taubitz's compatriot and Beijing 2022 silver medallist, Anna Berreiter finishing sixth (3:32.010) after a storming fourth run.
World Cup leader Lisa Schulte of Austria finished seventh, on 3:32.062, while Emily Fischnaller was unable to match husband Dominik's bronze in the men's event yesterday, ranking 12th.
The drama started in the first moments of the third run of four on Tuesday as then second-placed Merle Malou Fraebel had a troubled start ping ponging off the walls. A two-second deficit compared to her first two runs saw the German drop out of the medals, eventually finishing eighth, but not before the youngster smashed her fourth run.
With three to go Farquharson had everyone on tenterhooks as the timing light flashed red and green all the way down the run, finally coming to a stop ahead of Hofer to guarantee a place on the podium.
Bota, the quiet achiever from the past two days put down another storming run to best the US athlete, but it was Taubitz's gold to lose, and she made no mistake to banish the errors of Beijing 2022 in which she dropped from top in the first run to 14th in an error-strewn second.
Taubitz can now look forward to celebrating her 30th birthday in a few weeks' time in style, no doubt wearing some new bling.
Follow the Olympics.com live blog to keep up with all the updates from Milano Cortina 2026.
Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics: women's singles luge results
- 🥇 Julia Taubitz (GER) 3:30.625
- 🥈 Elina Bota (LAT) 3:31.543 (+0.918)
- 🥉 Ashley Farquharson (USA) 3:31.582 (+0.957)
Women's Single Heat 3&4 - Luge | Beijing 2022 Replays
This event took place on 08/02/2022 at the Yanqing Sliding Centre. Olympic champion Natalie Geisenberger (GER) won her fifth Olympic Gold medal with a best time of 3:53.454. Anna Berreiter (GER) picked up her first Olympic medal with Silver and Tatyana Ivanova (ROC) took the Bronze.
- Luge
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