The Utah Olympic Park is set to host luge World Cup action this week for the first time since 2016, and Park City sliders Ashley Farquharson and Brittney Arndt are more than ready to compete on home ice on the World Cup circuit.
“I think it’s very, very cool for us to be racing at home, and hopefully it becomes more common in the future,” Farquharson said. “I’m really excited for my family to be there. We’re definitely going to have a big crowd, so that’s always something to look forward to.”
“Super excited to be heading home for a home race,” Arndt added.
The World Cup will take place on Friday and Saturday. Men’s and women’s doubles and men’s singles will be on Friday starting at 2 p.m. Women’s singles will be on Saturday at 11 a.m., followed by a sprint World Cup race. Admission is free for spectators, and activities will be offered in the lower loop of the track.
“It’s a great chance to get very close to the track and experience the speed and excitement of the sport,” said Gordy Sheer, director of marketing and sponsorship for USA Luge.
After a six-year absence, it’s an opportunity for the sport of luge to make an impact in Park City. Arndt and Farquharson started competing in the sport at the Utah Olympic Park growing up, and it’s difficult to grow a sport that people can’t see in person.
“Any time we can be in front of a community like Park City, it’s an opportunity for us to inspire a kid to come out and try one of our Learn to Luge programs or after-school programs and really inspire them down a path that could lead to who knows where – perhaps an Olympic team berth,” Sheer said. “Without these kinds of events and without being visible in the community, we will not find people like Brittney and Ashley.”
Farquharson made the Olympic team last season at just 22 years old, was the highest-finishing American in 12th place and slid in the women’s leg of the team relay event in Beijing that saw the U.S. come in seventh. Now 23, Farquharson hopes to continue to make strides in the sport.
She started the season with a seventh-place finish in Igls, Austria, and then came in 13th in a sprint World Cup event there. In her first race of the season, Farquharson recorded the seventh-fastest time in the first run and the 10th-fastest in the second.
“I had a great time,” Farquharson said. “I put down two runs, and there were some small mistakes in both that definitely bled time, but overall they were fast. They were very acceptable race runs, and it led to a best finish for me at seventh, and I’m stoked with that.”
Farquharson didn’t qualify for last weekend’s World Cup race in Whistler, Canada, so a race at her home track couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s safe to say that she knows the course pretty well.
“Brittney and I used to be at the track four or five days a week, and we would take five runs every day,” Farquharson said. “We did that for, like, six years. So, I don’t know, countless.”
Farquharson sits in 13th in the overall World Cup standings, and Arndt is in 16th heading into this weekend’s events. Arndt is coming off a 12th-place finish in Whistler, and she and Farquharson go way back.
“We went to school together from fifth grade until graduation and have slid together almost every day since, which is insane to think about,” Arndt said. “It’s been, like, 12 years. I think we’re both very excited to be at home. We always joke about Park City/Salt Lake getting the Olympics again, and we just want to be at home racing.”
After spending so much time in Europe the last two seasons, Arndt said even racing in Whistler felt more comfortable and added that she stayed in Europe for Christmas last year. Both sliders will have the opportunity to not only race on home ice, but do it in front of friends and family.
“I’m just excited,” Arndt said. “It’s going to be really cold. I’m excited to be sliding at home on really good World Cup ice. And of course, seeing my friends and family all at the track, that’s going to be amazing.”
“I have so much family coming, and a lot of them have never seen me race in person,” Farquharson added. “Or, if they have, it was a really long time ago. I’m really excited. I know my parents are excited. They’re telling everybody, and it’s going to be a rowdy crowd out there.”
Additionally, since the World Cup hasn’t stopped in Park City in so long, some sliders haven’t raced on it at that level. That, in addition to Farquharson and Arndt’s familiarity with the course, could play a role.
“Home-track advantage is real,” Farquharson said. “Luge is definitely an experience-based sport, and being able to have the familiarity of a home track – especially one that the circuit doesn’t come to that often – is huge. Just being able to be that much more comfortable than maybe anybody else, that’s going to add up to a lot of time.”
Farquharson is hopeful it won’t be another six years until the next World Cup stop in Park City after this week’s festivities.
“If we put on a good event at home, it’s just going to be very telling about why we’ve been spending so much time in Europe,” she said. “If this goes well, hopefully it can become more of a regular occurrence to have a North American leg on the circuit.”