Italy secured a podium finish in the team relay. In the mixed team event, which brought the Olympic luge programme at the Milano Cortina 2026 Games to a close, the quartet of Verena Hofer (women’s singles), Emanuel Rieder/Simon Kainzwaldner (men’s doubles), Dominik Fischnaller (men’s singles) and Andrea Voetter/Marion Oberhofer (women’s doubles) claimed a precious bronze medal. For the national team, after three fifth-place finishes, it marked their first ever top-three finish in this relatively new discipline, introduced only at Sochi 2014. It completed an unprecedented campaign for the athletes of technical director Armin Zoeggeler, who managed to win medals in four of the five events on the programme: Fischnaller’s bronze in the men’s singles and the two legendary golds within sixty-three minutes by Voetter/Oberhofer in the women’s doubles and Rieder/Kainzwaldner in the men’s doubles.

Celebrating on the Cortina Sliding Centre track were Germany’s champions Julia Taubitz, Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt, Max Langenhan and Dajana Eitberger/Magdalena Matschina, who secured gold in a combined time of 3:41.672. Second place went to Austria’s Lisa Schulte, Thomas Steu/Wolfgang Kindl, Jonas Mueller and Selina Egle/Lara Michaela Kipp (silver at +0.542). The Italian team (photo Simone Ferraro/CONI), leading at halfway but hampered by minor imperfections in the legs of Fischnaller and Voetter/Oberhofer, had to settle for third, finishing +0.849 behind the Germans. With just over ten days of competition remaining, the Italia Team, with 16 medals (six golds, two silvers and eight bronzes), moved to within one of the 17 won at Beijing 2022, Italy’s second most prolific Winter Olympic campaign ever. in the team relay. In the mixed team event, which brought the Olympic luge programme at the Milano Cortina 2026 Games to a close, the quartet of Verena Hofer (women’s singles), Emanuel Rieder/Simon Kainzwaldner (men’s doubles), Dominik Fischnaller (men’s singles) and Andrea Voetter/Marion Oberhofer (women’s doubles) claimed a precious bronze medal. For the national team, after three fifth-place finishes, it marked their first ever top-three finish in this relatively new discipline, introduced only at Sochi 2014. It completed an unprecedented campaign for the athletes of technical director Armin Zoeggeler, who managed to win medals in four of the five events on the programme: Fischnaller’s bronze in the men’s singles and the two legendary golds within sixty-three minutes by Voetter/Oberhofer in the women’s doubles and Rieder/Kainzwaldner in the men’s doubles.

Celebrating on the Cortina Sliding Centre track were Germany’s champions Julia Taubitz, Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt, Max Langenhan and Dajana Eitberger/Magdalena Matschina, who secured gold in a combined time of 3:41.672. Second place went to Austria’s Lisa Schulte, Thomas Steu/Wolfgang Kindl, Jonas Mueller and Selina Egle/Lara Michaela Kipp (silver at +0.542). The Italian team (photo Simone Ferraro/CONI), leading at halfway but hampered by minor imperfections in the legs of Fischnaller and Voetter/Oberhofer, had to settle for third, finishing +0.849 behind the Germans. With just over ten days of competition remaining, the Italia Team, with 16 medals (six golds, two silvers and eight bronzes), moved to within one of the 17 won at Beijing 2022, Italy’s second most prolific Winter Olympic campaign ever. (agc)