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The Fastest Ride on Ice

At the 2026 Winter Olympics, top athletes will fly down an icy track in the fastest sport at the Games—luge.

Dec 2025 / Jan 2026
By Lisa Galek

Thomas Peter/Reuters (luge); Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images (track); Hwei Wen Foo/Reuters (diagram)

HELMET: Lugers wear a strong, lightweight helmet and face shield to protect them from the cold.

 

SUIT: A tight suit helps to reduce drag.

 

SLED: Lugers ride small sleds that are custom built for athletes based on their height and weight. Here’s a look at some important parts.

 

Pod: Riders lie flat on this molded shell.

 

Handle: Grips allow riders to hang on to either side of the pod.

 

Runner: A blade, or srteel, is attached to each runner. These blades are polished to reduce friction and sharpened to slice into the ice, allowing for smooth turns.

 

Bow: The curved bows are used to steer.

Whoosh! You’re lying on your back on a tiny sled. The ice beneath you is as slick as glass, and frosty air roars loudly in your ears. You accelerate as you race down the track. Before you know it, you’re moving quicker than a car on a highway—90 miles per hour! Welcome to the world of luge, one of the fastest sports on ice.

On February 6, the 2026 Winter Olympics will kick off in Milan, Italy. About 3,000 athletes from all over the world will go for the gold. In luge, racers will zoom down a track that’s about a mile long, hoping to finish in less than a minute. How do they go so fast? The answer: science.

Speed Science

In luge, races can be won or lost by a fraction of a second. Every bit of speed counts. One thing that affects speed is weight. Heavier objects slide faster—but lugers aren’t allowed to add weight to their sleds. Instead, they fight against drag and friction.

Drag refers to air pushing against the athlete’s body, slowing them down. To reduce drag, lugers lie as flat and straight as possible. They lift their heads just a little so they can see where they’re going. If they raise their heads too high, drag increases. 

Friction occurs when the sled’s steels—blades attached to the runners—rub against the ice. The design and shape of the steels can change how much friction there is. Less friction equals more speed.

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

Hwei Wen Foo/Reuters

1. To win a race, a quick start is key—it’s the only time lugers control how rapidly they accelerate. Athletes grab onto handles next to the sides of the sled. They rock back and forth and then launch.

Hwei Wen Foo/Reuters

2. Wearing spiked gloves, lugers paddle themselves forward with their hands. Riders then lie as flat as they can.

Hwei Wen Foo/Reuters

3. To steer, athletes push against a bow with one calf and move their shoulders to shift their weight.

Hwei Wen Foo/Reuters

4. At the end of a run, an athlete stops by sitting up, dragging their feet on the ice, and pulling on the bows.

Shutterstock.com

Olympic luge tracks, like this one from the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, are about a mile long.

Rules of the Ride

Over the years, lugers have tried all kinds of tricks to go faster. At the 1976 Olympics, some wore cone-shaped helmets. Another time, a team built an extra-long sled. Both ideas were banned.

Today the rules say sleds must follow certain limits for length, width, and height. But that doesn’t stop engineers from looking for ways to make them faster.

Brian Helenbrook and his team at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, study ways to make sleds more aerodynamic. Who knows? Maybe one day they’ll unlock the secret to the fastest sled ever. For now, Helenbrook is looking forward to the Olympics.

“I’d love to see the U.S. team get on the podium in any of the luge events,” he says.

Let the Games Begin
Watch a video about the history of the Olympics.
Physical Science
Forces & Motion

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