Sophia Kirkby

Age: 24
Hometown: Ray Brook
Family: Mom; late father, James; older brother, Ilya; younger brother, Matthew
Sport: Women’s Double Luge
Career: Owner/creator of Kirkby Luge & Clay, pottery and ceramics business 

By Mona Kulkarni Caron

From a USA Luge “Try Luge” event in Lake Placid to the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, Sophia Kirkby has had an incredible run in the “fastest sport on ice.” 

Sophia got her start in sliding when she and her father saw children participating on wheeled luges in Lake Placid at the Olympic Jumping Complex near her home at the age of seven. Her father, James, a former bobsledder with the US Air Force, introduced her to the sport by bringing her to their practice, then they started showing up to get extra runs in – even when there wasn’t group training. By the following winter, at the age of eight, she was practicing on ice. 

Unlike bobsled and skeleton, the other two sliding sports, lugers typically start training in the sport at a young age. She was terrified on her first run and was not immediately in love with the sport. She continued on for the rest of the day and after that it became their passion and an activity that father and daughter could do together. At the age of 10, USA Luge plucked Sophia out and put her on the development team. 

Her father, who died last summer from prostate cancer, was her biggest fan and key supporter throughout her career, driving her to practices, and staying up late to track her races in Europe while he was sick. Whenever she competes, her father’s words are in her hands. Sophia writes quotes from his last messages to her on her gloves and wears them on every run.

Sophia made her way up through the singles Junior World Cups and Junior World Championships. The 2019-20 season was her last season competing as a junior. She was ranked ninth on the Junior World Cup tour. Before her next season, former USA Luge coach Robert Fegg suggested pairing Sophia with Chevonne Forgan of Chelmsford, MA, another single luger, who was ranked 20th. Women’s double luge was about to make its debut on the World Cup circuit and their height difference – 5’3” for Sophia and 5’10” for Chevonne – would benefit them aerodynamically, helping to build a successful team. 

They gave it a try and enjoyed the challenge. Their partnership brought them success during the 2021-22 World Cup season with a bronze medal. The women, with two podium appearances and medal at the World Championships, continued to collect more medals and improve their ranking after less than two years of competing as a doubles team. 

On June 14, 2022, Sophia’s 21st birthday, it was announced that Women’s Doubles Luge would join the 2026 Winter Olympics. To celebrate, she went to Lake Placid’s Zig Zags Pub (a bobsled themed bar, named for curves 13 and 14 of the bobsled run), and ordered shots in the colors of the Olympic rings.

The 2024-25 season was one of the best for Sophia and her luge partner Chevonne. The duo earned seven World Cup medals including their very first gold medal at their events in Lillehammer, Norway on Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2024. They finished the 2024-25 season, ranked third in the world. 

While sliding, they communicate through small movements and shifts of their bodyweight. The shorter of the two, Sophia lays on the bottom and steers the sled with her feet and by shifting her bodyweight. Chevonne uses the inside of her calves to steer the kufens – the curved, runner-like blades or “skis” at the front of the sled that they use for steering. 

The pair has worked really hard on their starts and that effort has paid off as they are known for having the best starts among the competitors. A strong luge start requires power and strength, and it involves two phases, the “pull-off” and “paddles.” The luge start involves the seated pull-off from the start handles, immediately followed by paddles, which are the initial high-speed propelling motions made by using spiked gloves for grip. At the most recent start championships held in September 2025 to kick off the season, Sophia and Chevonne set the women’s doubles start record in the traditional start. They also set the record for the reaction start in the luge team relay (in the relay, athletes hit a touchpad at the finish to trigger the next team, with the lowest cumulative time winning). In the World Cup circuit, the pair also set four start and two track records.

As she heads into the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, Sophia explained that there are 11 countries represented in women’s luge, with each country fielding one team. Sophia and Chevonne are the only American team in women’s doubles. According to Sophia, “Team Italy is the one to beat.”

In the women’s doubles, Sophia and Chevonne came in fifth place in Königssee, Germany on January 23-24. They also competed in the mixed relay, which Sophia says is “a fun, exciting event,” which involves all of her teammates on Team USA. The mixed team relay goes in the following order: women’s single, men’s doubles, men’s single, and women’s doubles. Sliders hit a touchpad at the end of their run to signal the opening of the gate for the next start. It goes on until the women’s duo complete their track run. 

Each sliding team is allowed only six training runs for the Olympic games. Sophia trains and prepares for competitions with a lot of weightlifting and arm-banded exercises. She uses visualization to improve her performance. Recently she bought a journal and has started writing about her experiences. 

Post-competition recovery involves a sauna and a freezing cold shower, which is a good reset for her body. When asked about what advice she would give to future lugers, Sophia says, “Keep participating in as many experiences as you can. The more runs you do, the more skills you pick up, which leads to success.” Sophia added, “Living in the Lake Placid area was very beneficial for my career in competitive luge.”

Around the same time she started luge, Sophia developed her hobby of creating pottery. That passion turned into her future career. “I love pottery!” Sophia said. She began taking classes at the Lake Placid Center for Arts, and during the pandemic she started using it as an outlet to relieve stress. 

She started her own business, Kirkby Luge & Clay, a pottery and ceramics studio and makes handmade ceramic pins, earrings, and unique items. In the morning, she trains hard for the Olympics and spends the afternoons at her pottery studio. “Creating pottery with my hands has allowed me to grieve my father’s death just by taking my mind somewhere else,” she said. Visit her Amazon Handmade page to see her creations: bit.ly-4oOaNM9.

Sophia is excited to compete and participate in all of the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics. She’s fortunate to be staying in the Olympic Village in Cortina for most of the games. She won’t be at the Opening Ceremony in Milan because the sliding events will be held 250 miles northeast in Cortina, and the athletes will need that time for their training runs. Instead, they’ll have a smaller Opening Ceremony for the satellite locations. 

She’s excited about bringing her passions – luge and pottery – together at the Olympics. Sophia is creating pieces for fellow athletes. “No one has sold handmade products ever as an Olympic athlete competing in the Games,” she said. “I feel so proud that I’m going to be the first.”

Sophia’s making handmade cappuccino cups to sip from during her time at the Olympics. She says, “It’s my way to recover my mind. Sipping on a cappuccino from a cup I made is so heartwarming to me.”

Mona Kulkarni Caron (mona@adksports.com) is a race director of the Good Karma 5K in Clifton Park, training mentor for the Run for Women Training Challenge, and enjoys running, biking, hiking and traveling. She’s the Director of Trails & Stewardship at the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.