- Park City's Ashley Farquharson won bronze in women's singles luge at Milano Cortina 2026, the second U.S. Olympic medal in the event. She started at 11 in an after-school program, and leads USA Luge's women into the 2026-27 season.
- Ashley Farquharson connect back to Utah Homegrown and the wider olympic sports picture.
- The story is backed by 11 sources and a visible last-verified date.
October 31, 2026
October 31, 2026
4 min / 852 words
11 official links
Ashley Farquharson of Park City won the bronze medal in women's singles luge at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games on Feb. 10, 2026, at the Cortina Sliding Centre. Her four-run total of 3:31.582 put her behind Germany's Julia Taubitz (3:30.625) and Latvia's Elina Bota (3:31.543), 0.039 seconds off silver.
USA Luge called it the second U.S. Olympic medal in women's singles and the first since Erin Hamlin's bronze in 2014, and said it brought the program's Olympic medal total to seven. It made Farquharson only the third American, after Hamlin and Chris Mazdzer, to win an Olympic singles medal in luge, by USA Luge's account.
"I feel amazing. This feels unbelievable. I still feel a little bit like I'm dreaming," she told USA Luge after the race.
How the medal came together
Women's singles is raced over four runs on two days. Farquharson went into the second day in fifth place, KPCW reported, and climbed two places across the last two runs. KSL timed her final run at 52.877 seconds.
Hamlin's 2014 race was one she remembered. "I remember watching (Hamlin) win that race in my eighth-grade math class," she said, in remarks KSL quoted from NBC Olympics. Twelve years later she matched Hamlin's medal.
It was her second Olympics. At Beijing 2022 she finished 12th in women's singles and seventh in the team relay, according to her USA Luge profile. In Cortina, the U.S. team relay finished fifth.
From an after-school program to the national team
Farquharson started luge at 11 through the Youth Sports Alliance's after-school program in Park City, KPCW reported. She graduated from Park City High School and competes with the Wasatch Luge Club, according to KSL. TownLift reported that her brother, Jake, has also been on the U.S. Luge National Team, and that she now serves as a Youth Sports Alliance ambassador, the program that introduced her to the sport.
Her USA Luge profile traces the climb:
- 2015-16: member of the Youth Olympic Games team
- 2017, 2018 and 2019: Norton Junior National Champion three years running
- 2018-19: fourth at the Junior World Championships in Igls, Austria
- 2020-21: bronze at the U23 World Championships in Königssee, Germany
- 2023 and 2024: Norton National Champion
- 2024-25: sixth at the World Championships in Whistler, her best world championship finish
The December that set up Cortina
Her breakthrough on the World Cup came on home snow. At the Park City World Cup on Dec. 13, 2025, she finished third behind teammate Summer Britcher, her first individual World Cup podium, a day after what she called a mistake.
"After my mistake yesterday I was like, 'Put her down,' so I did!" she said in USA Luge's Park City release. Six days later at Lake Placid she went one better, taking silver in 1:28.956, 0.132 seconds behind Taubitz.
"It feels great to be racing at my second home track and feels even better that I was able to be so fast," she said in USA Luge's Lake Placid release.
She raced seven of the nine World Cup events in 2025-26 and finished 12th in the overall standings, USA Luge said. Less than eight weeks after Lake Placid she was on the Olympic podium.
Where she is now
USA Luge named its Fall 2026 National Team on May 5, 2026, and said Farquharson, the Milan-Cortina bronze medalist from Park City, "will lead a contingent of U.S. women". The women's singles group also includes Summer Britcher, Emily Fischnaller and Emma Erickson. USA Luge's team page lists her at 5-foot-9, with Park City as her hometown. TownLift identified her coach as John Owen, an Olympian, and noted that both she and her brother graduated from Park City High.
She opened the fall at the USA Luge Start Championships in Lake Placid on Oct. 16, 2026, finishing sixth in women's singles in 11.95 seconds and third in women's doubles in 12.37 with Erickson, a pairing USA Luge described as formed just for that event.
Her 2026-27 schedule
USA Luge's calendar lists the season:
- World Cup openers: Winterberg, Germany, Nov. 28-29, 2026, then PyeongChang, Dec. 12-13, and Yanqing, Dec. 19-20
- January 2027: Sigulda (Jan. 9-10), Altenberg (Jan. 16-17) and Oberhof (Jan. 23-24)
- 54th FIL World Championships: Innsbruck, Austria, Feb. 5-7, 2027
- A return to Cortina: World Cup, Feb. 13-14, 2027, on the track where she won her medal
- Finish: La Plagne (Feb. 20-21) and Königssee (March 5-7)
For more Utah winter athletes, see the Utah 2034 Olympics hub.
Key facts:
- Athlete: Ashley Farquharson, women's singles luge, USA Luge Fall 2026 National Team
- Hometown: Park City, Utah (Park City High School; Wasatch Luge Club)
- Olympic result: bronze, women's singles, Milano Cortina 2026, Feb. 10, 2026, 3:31.582
- Significance: the second U.S. Olympic medal in women's singles luge and the first since 2014, per USA Luge
- Other Olympics: Beijing 2022, 12th in singles, seventh in the team relay
- World Cup: silver at Lake Placid and bronze at Park City, December 2025
- National titles: Norton National Champion 2023 and 2024
- Started: at 11, through the Youth Sports Alliance after-school program in Park City
- Next: World Cup opener, Winterberg, Nov. 28-29, 2026
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