When Ansel Haugsjaa of Framingham hurtles down an icy track in Cortina, Italy, at 90 mph at this month’s Winter Olympics, not only will he be competing against the best luge athletes from around the world, he’ll also be going up against his own teammate and friend, who grew up just two towns away.
In another two-man sled, Zack DiGregorio of Medway will also be representing the U.S. in what will be his second Olympics.
The Massachusetts lugers say the competition within Team USA helps all of their performances.
“I think a very big reason why our program is as successful as it is now is that there’s not ever a moment where it feels like you can rest — even if you’ve had a good result — because it feels there’s someone right there, if not ahead of you, who you’re always having to chase after,” Haugsjaa said.
In addition to the adrenaline rush, both say the sport’s appeal comes from a never-ending quest for the ideal run.
“You’re always chasing perfection, even though that perfection almost doesn’t exist,” DiGregorio said. “But once you get close to it, that’s when you’re doing as best you can. So it’s fun that way. And then also just the speed, like you can’t be going 90 miles per hour down a hill in a little ice tube. Like it’s pretty tough to find that anywhere else.”
It’s those nearly perfect runs that have kept Haugsjaa motivated since he first tried the sport at 12 years old.
“Sometimes you get close … it feels so effortless and so satisfying,” he said. “But you only have a very few number of those runs. So you’re always like, ‘I want that again. I want that again.’ So it’s, yeah, always trying to chase that feeling.”
DiGregorio was introduced to luge as a 10-year-old at an event in Carlisle, Massachusetts. A few months later, he was invited to visit the U.S. Olympic training facility in Lake Placid, New York, and in 2012, he was named to the U.S. Luge Junior Development Team. His older brother tried the sport, too.
“At the time I made it, he didn’t,” DiGregorio said. “And that’s all you need as a 10-year-old with a 12-year-old brother to keep going.”
By the time he was a student at Medway High School, the demands of the sport meant a lot of missed school days.
“When you miss more than half of the days for a sport, they were like, ‘all right, time for some online school.’ So, switched over to that and then moved up to Lake Placid shortly after,” he said.
Initially, DiGregorio competed in a one-man sled. But international competitions were canceled during the pandemic, leaving him and his team stuck on their home track.
“Me and my teammate, Sean Hollander, kind of were bored of just sliding down the Lake Placid track for the thousandth time that season, and decided ‘why not try doubles?’” he recalled.
A doubles sled has two athletes working together, and each has a very different job. DiGregorio, who is on top of his partner, does the steering.
“The top man, I can see, and that’s the biggest difference,” he said. “It looks like we’re not looking forward, but we’re trying to just barely see over our chest when we’re looking down, and you’re almost just kind of peeking there and using mostly peripheral vision to make sure you’re not hitting the walls.”
On his sled, Haugsjaa is on the bottom. His job is to lie as still as possible while his partner, Marcus Mueller, steers.
“It’s really important, since I’m the one that has direct contact with the sled, to try and make [corners] as smooth as possible, basically,” he explained. “What it is really is just being like a shock absorber, trying to eat everything up and make everything smooth.”
At the Olympic level, luge races are won or lost by just fractions of a second. Haugsjaa said spectators often don’t understand how much effort, thought and preparation goes into each run.
“It looks effortless, but it feels like so much work in your head, and it feels like so much work before the run,” he said.
Just 18 months after trying out doubles at their home track, DiGregorio and Hollander represented the U.S. in doubles luge at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. DiGregorio says it was an incredible experience, but also unusual because of the pandemic meant there were no fans or family members in attendance.
“That’s the thing I’m the most excited for going into Milan-Cortina,” he said. “I’ll get to have my family there. And my mom’s always loved the Olympics. So she’ll be there and she’s super excited for it.”
Haugsjaa is thrilled to experience his first Winter Games.
“A lot of it is just not knowing what to expect. Of course I’ve heard all sorts of stories about how it feels, and different experiences from other teammates,” he said. “But I’m excited to get to experience myself, see how it’s gonna feel, see how the environment of the race feels, being at the village, opening ceremonies, everything.”
For DiGregorio, his second Olympics feels different, because this time he feels like the U.S. has a solid chance of earning a medal.
“It’s not where we were four years ago — where it’s, ‘yeah, let’s get a sled in and maybe a miracle can happen in team relay.’ It’s, ‘let’s go get a medal in Milan.’ I think both our doubles teams are more than capable enough to do the job. So yeah, it’s going to be a fun fight.”
