A crowning achievement: The lugers win bronze as a team!

South Tyrol's luge athletes won another medal at the Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo on Thursday with another brilliant performance. The team relay team of Verena Hofer, Dominik Fischnaller, Andrea Vötter, Marion Oberhofer, Emanuel Rieder, and Simon Kainzwaldner finished in third place.

February 12, 2026

From: leo

Twenty-four hours ago, the local luge athletes had caused a veritable medal haul within just one hour. First, Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer sped to gold, and shortly afterward, Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner followed suit. There wasn't much time to celebrate these historic triumphs, however, as the next (and final) medal opportunity of these Winter Games presented itself on Thursday. The aforementioned doubles team, along with Dominik Fischnaller and Verena Hofer, seized this opportunity. The South Tyrolean sextet secured bronze in the team relay.

Austria set the first impressive benchmark, beating the then-leading Latvians by over half a second. The South Tyroleans knew that perfect runs were required – and Verena Hofer started the race accordingly. The athlete from Feldthurns showcased her strengths at the start, remained unfazed by a minor wobble, and handed off with a lead over Rieder and Kainzwaldner. The Olympic champions showed no weakness and extended their lead to one and a half tenths of a second.

A historical medal

Fischnaller lost valuable time with a less-than-ideal reaction time and subsequently failed to match Jonas Müller's pace. The deficit of around two-tenths of a second proved too much for Vötter and Oberhofer. Nevertheless, the jubilation was immense, as it was the first medal in this discipline, which was only added to the Olympic program in 2014.

The winning team from Germany. © ANSA / DANIEL DAL ZENNARO

Hofer was especially delighted, having missed out on a medal in the individual competition. Two days earlier, she had to settle for fourth place. Gold, meanwhile, went to Germany (Julia Taubitz, Max Langenhan, Tobias Wendl & Tobias Arlt, Magdalena Matschina & Dajana Eitberger), who set the fastest time in all four runs. Ultimately, the favorites finished 0,542 seconds ahead of Austria with a new track record.

For South Tyrol's lugers, the historic Olympic Games thus came to an end with another highlight: gold in both the doubles and bronze in the men's singles and the team relay – exceeding all expectations.

> Click here for our big Olympic box