Summer Britcher fails to recapture magic in Olympic luge

It was a difficult day for all of USA Luge as Emily Sweeney went sideways before racing up the ice wall and crashing feet first in her fourth and final run of the Games. Sitting in 14th place before her fourth run, she lost control of her sled and needed a lengthy delay before gingerly walking away from the track.

That crash seemed to have a chain reaction for the three-woman team for USA Luge. 

Britcher, racing just minutes later, went offline at the start. The out-of-character struggles caused her to tumble from a likely top-10 finish to almost the bottom of the standings. 

More: Britcher sets track record in first day of lows and highs for York County Olympian

Read: Look back at Britcher's rise in the sport with a pair of back-to-back wins in 2015

Britcher almost immediately bumped the wall on her right side, and later in the run she needed to place both her feet against the ice to correct her line. She looked to be fighting the sled the rest of the way. It was her worst run at the Games, and it caused her to free fall in the standings from eighth to 19th. 

Germany once again dominated, with Natalie Geisenberger repeating as Olympic gold medalist. Germany's Dajana Eitberger won silver and Alex Gough brought home Canada's first medal in the sport by winning the bronze. 

The struggles for Team USA even spread to Erin Hamlin, the four-time Olympian. Typically a picture of consistency, the nation's flag bearer struggled for the first time at the Olympics.

Photo gallery: See Summer Britcher in action at 2018 Olympics

More photos: See Summer Britcher through the years

Sitting in fifth place and trying to win the country's second medal in women's luge, Hamlin couldn't pull off a clean run. The Sochi bronze medalist needed to place both feet to the ice to correct her line and avoid hitting the wall.

Hamlin finished sixth. 

Britcher, 23, had issues in Curve 9 in Day 2, but she avoided a wall bump in her third run when she tapped her left foot to the ice to correct her line.

She wasn't alone, as several racers in the field struggled with Curve 9. Britcher moved up one spot into eighth place, and she looked destined for a top-10 finish.

In her second Olympics, the Susquehannock High School graduate just needed a clean run in her fourth heat to walk away with a big improvement from her 15th-place finish four years ago in Russia. 

But it didn't happen.

Support local journalism: Here's a special subscription offer

With snow falling Tuesday and conditions appearing not as fast as Day 1, no slider could match the track record Britcher uncorked Monday. The former Glen Rock resident — who trains in Lake Placid, New York full-time — placed 15th at the 2014 Olympics.  

Olympic luge consists of four heats spread over two days. All four heats are summed to determine the winner. And no country has perfected the sport quite like the Germans.

Germany placed first, second and fourth. Only Germany's Tatjana Hüfner came up short, dropping out of medal contention on her final run to allow Gough to escape with third place. 

The third heat was cut day in luge, with only the top 20 sliders in a field of 29 qualifying for the fourth and final run. 

It looked like Team USA was in a good spot after three runs with Hamlin in fifth place, Britcher in eighth and Sweeney in 14th.

But that all changed when Sweeney went sideways on the track and the Americans' hope for a banner day went sideways as well.  

Also of interest, a photo gallery of York County Olympian Summer Britcher.