Emily Sweeney’s second trip to the Winter Olympics fell one luge run short of the full competition Tuesday at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre.
The 28-year-old Portland native, whose first day of the women’s singles event on Monday was slowed by a crash late in the second of her two heats, had the 12th-fastest run of the third heat Tuesday, 58.882 seconds.
But Sweeney’s combined three-run time of 3 minutes, 0.292 seconds was good for just 26th place overall and only the top 20 advanced to the fourth and final run.
“My results aren’t showing it, but I’m more competitive than I’ve ever been,” Sweeney said.
“I have more eyes on me from other countries than I’ve ever had. I’m actually sliding very well on the sled. People have been complimenting me from all different walks of sliding. It’s crazy, but I feel good on the sled. It’s just something’s missing, and in a sport that’s timed to the thousandth of a second, you can’t have something missing.”
Sweeney, who grew up in Falmouth before moving with her family to Connecticut, made her Olympic luge debut in 2018 but crashed out on her fourth and final run at Pyeongchang, South Korea.
She began her return to Olympic competition Monday with the 10th-fastest time of the first heat (58.971) to lead the three-person American contingent for the event in Beijing.
But Sweeney got upended during the late turns of her second run Monday and slid across the finish line with sled in hand to conclude the day in 28th place.
Natalie Geisenberger of Germany went on to become the first three-time Olympic gold medalist in the event, following up her victories in 2014 and 2018.
Geisenberger’s four-run time in Beijing was 3 minutes, 53.454 seconds — 0.493 seconds ahead of silver medalist Anna Berreiter of Germany and 1.053 seconds ahead of bronze medalist Tatiana Ivanova of the Russian team.
The top American in women’s singles luge was 22-year-old Ashley Farquharson, a first-time Olympian from Sacramento, California, who now lives in Park City, Utah. She finished 12th among the 35 competitors.
Farquharson was the fastest American in Tuesday’s first round, with her time of 58.268 the eighth-fastest in the field to move her up to 17th place and qualify for the fourth heat.
She followed that with a final-round clocking of 58.643 — also the eighth-fastest in the field for a four-run time of 3:56.407, 2.953 seconds behind Geisenberger.
“The last run speaks to the speed that was there the whole time,” Farquharson said.
The third American in the field, three-time Olympian Summer Britcher of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania, also failed to qualify for the final run, though her third run time of 59.152 was 20th fastest in the field.
The 27-year-old Britcher, who like Sweeney endured a first-day crash, was in 23rd place through three rounds.
