Fennell sees Olympic hopes with USA Luge end

John Fennell didn’t crack under pressure. His sled did.

Fennell’s quest to compete in a second Olympics for a second country came to a sudden end Thursday night at Mount Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid when part of his sled broke during his run in the Nations Cup race. Fennell, who was flying down the track before the part known as a kufen somehow came off, placed 21st in a race where a top-15 finish was needed to qualify for today’s World Cup competition.

That means Fennell no longer has a path toward getting one of the three men’s spots on the U.S. Olympic team. “Heartbroken,” Fennell said. The U.S. men’s team for the Pyeongchang Games will be decided today, with Tucker West, Chris Mazdzer, Taylor Morris and Jonny Gustafson still in the mix. Fennell seemed like a lock to join them, until the kufen — one of the runners on his sled — gave way. When Fennell realized what happened, he knew his Olympic hopes were gone in an instant.

“I hit a wall early in the track and I think it could have fractured it, and eventually it just succumbed to the bumps and the vibrations and broke,” Fennell said.

The women’s World Cup race in Lake Placid will be on Saturday, and it now will be drama-free for two Americans. Summer Britcher and Emily Sweeney officially saw their spots on the Olympic team clinched Thursday night, when Raychel Germaine failed to qualify out of the Nations Cup race.

Britcher is going to the Olympics for the second time, and Sweeney — who narrowly missed a spot on the Olympic teams in 2010 and 2014 — is going for the first time.