Antonia Pietschmann wins women's luge to claim the first gold medal of the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games
The first sports event to start at Gangwon 2024 also provided the first medallists of the Winter YOG in Republic of Korea. Here's how the race was won.
Luge
Antonia Pietschmann claimed the honour of winning the first gold medal on offer at the Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Gangwon 2024.
The German 17-year-old won the women's singles luge event in dominant style at the Alpensia Sliding Centre early on Saturday (20 January), before telling Olympics.com that she "didn't know how good I was."
Alexandra Oberstolz of Italy claimed the silver.
Third place and the bronze medal went to Marie Riedl of Austria.
First competitors of Gangwon 2024 make their mark
The women's singles luge was the first event to get underway at this Winter YOG.
Amanda Ogorodnikova of Latvia was the first slider on the track, starting her opening run just after 08:30 Korean Standard Time (KST). Her time of 48.664 seconds was enough to be sixth after all the competitors had finished their opening runs. She went on to also place sixth in the second run, and finish sixth overall.
Germany's Pietschmann was the only athlete to complete the course in under 48 seconds, doing so twice. Her opening run of 47.985 put her into the lead.
Last to go in the second run, she went even faster, her 47.789 securing the gold with an overall time of 1 minute, 35.774 seconds at the Alpensia Sliding Centre track, which also hosted the event at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
"I feel incredible because I also know that I am the first medal winner of Germany, and it's a gold medal, so very nice," she told Olympics.com at the finish line. "I expected to have chances, but I didn't know how good I was."
It's a 10th luge medal at the Winter YOG events for the German team, a powerhouse nation in sliding sports who hold the most podiums overall in luge.
Pietschmann is hoping for more in Gangwon: "Maybe a medal in the team. We will see," she added.
Silver medallist Oberstolz finished second fastest in both runs for a total time of 1:36.326 including a top speed of 111 km/h. Her father Christian is a four-time Olympian in the sport.
The medal ceremony took place after the men's doubles luge later on Saturday, won by the Italian pair Philipp Brunner and Manuel Weissensteiner.
Therefore, the first medal actually given to an athete at Gangwon 2024 is due to be the ski jump women's normal hill competition, with action live on Olympic Channel via. Olympics.com and our app.
Full luge schedule at Gangwon 2024
All times are Korea Standard Time (UTC/GMT +9 hours) and are subject to change
Saturday, 20 January
- 8:30-10:30 - Women’s singles - won by Antonia Pietschmann
- 11:00-12:55 - Men’s doubles
Sunday, 21 January
- 8:30-10:30 - Men’s singles
- 11:00-12:55 - Women’s doubles
Tuesday, 23 January
- 10:30-11:45 - Team relay
How to watch luge at Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games
Action from all 13 competition days at Gangwon 2024 will be streamed live on Olympics.com with dedicated feeds, as well as on the official Olympics app for mobile devices.
You can also watch full replays on demand on Olympics.com and catch highlights across the official Olympics social media accounts.