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Emily Sweeney Wins 2013 Junior Women's Luge World Championship

This was the Suffield High School graduate's last singles race at the junior level.

Flashing her trademark winning smile, Emily Sweeney took home the gold medal in the 2013 Junior Women's Luge World Championship in Park City, Utah, last week.

Her proud parents Sue and Larry told Patch that this was Emily's final singles race at the junior level since she will be turning 20 in March.

Emily, a 2011 graduate of Suffield High School, also won a bronze medal in the team competition in Park City. The team from Italy came in first and the team from Germany came in second.

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"I had pretty rough training this week. It was inconsistent," Sweeney told USA Luge after her win. "I’d thrown down some good runs but I had a lot of issues, too. I had that feeling I was going to pull it together for race day. I’ve never had that feeling before and it happened."

According to USA Luge, "Sweeney grabbed a slim 0.01 of a second lead in the opening heat, and propelled by two fast starts, extended that in the final run. Caroline von Schleinitz took silver in 1:28.182, with Natalie Burkhardt recording the bronze medal time of 1:28.215."

"This race has definitely been in the back of my mind," Sweeney said. "I’ve been looking forward to this for a while. It’s not often we have a junior worlds on American soil. It takes the advantage away from the European nations. I was really excited we got to host them."

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