Erin Hamlin First American to Win Olympic Medal for Singles Luge

Erin Hamlin is the first American to win an Olympic Medal for singles luge, a sport that is traditionally dominated by Germany. For the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Natalie Geisenberger (Germany) is taking home the gold medal along with a new record posting the largest winning margin in any luge event since the 1964 Winter Olympics in Austria.

Erin Hamlin, 27, is not only the first American to medal in the singles luge, but she is also the first American olympian to qualify for 3 Olympic teams since Cammy Myler. Hamlin has represented the USA in the 2006, 2010 and the 2014 Olympic games. Her last medal was during the 2010 World Cup where she took home two bronze medals and was quoted as saying, “2010 may have been my best opportunity (to medal).”

She obviously still had an opportunity.

Her previous Olympic efforts resulted in a 12th place finish in 2006 and a 16th place finish in 2010. For Socci, she found the ability to bring honor to her country and her hometown of Remsen, NY by achieving the first medal win for any American in the singles luge. “It’s surreal,” Hamlin said. “I had four great runs. I came here with no expectations and this is beyond what I imagined.”

Natalie Geisenberger (Germany) finished with 3:19.768 earning the gold medal. Silver was taken by her Tatjana Hufner (Germany) with a time of 3:20.907. Erin Hamlin’s time was 3.21:145.

Erin Hamlin has been completing in luge since she was 12 years of age at Lake Placid, NY where she would go on to win her first gold medal at the 41st World Championships in 2009.

Her trainer told USA Today,“Her training was pretty good all week. Erin holds back a little bit in training. It’s kind of hard to gauge how she’s doing but you could tell from her times she was going to be competitive for a medal. The thing about Erin is she races well in the big races. She’s been placing well as season long. No medal, that’s correct but we knew that had to potential to be right up there with the best.”

After today’s competition she certainly is.