Park City’s Matt Greiner wins bronze at junior World Luge Championships

Matt Greiner wins bronze at the Junior World Championships in Germany on January 28, 2022. Photo: Team USA Luge

WINTERBERG, Germany — On Friday, Jan. 28, Park City resident and 18 year old Matt Greiner of the United States junior luge team won a bronze medal at the 2022 Junior World Luge Championships.

Upon recording a time of 1 minute, 53.213 seconds, Greiner finished in third place, 0.477 seconds off Russian gold medalist Matvei Prestoronin and 0.008 away from silver medalist Florian Müller of Germany.

“I’m super proud of myself,” Greiner said in an interview. “I thought I raced really well today. This Winterberg track is one that kind of favors my style of sliding. And this is a goal that I set from the very beginning of the season. At the end of the day, I’m always proud to see the American flag raised.”

Additionally, Greiner mentioned the track’s high speeds and attributed his ability to effectively maneuver the faster conditions due to his training in Park City, where sleds reach upwards of 90 MPH.

“Yeah, it’s really fast,” said Greiner. “I think I went 131 KPH which is like 82 MPH. It’s not something I’m new to, you know. It’s close to the speed in Park City.”

With his bronze medal, Greiner became the first American to podium at the Junior World Championship since Tucker West won silver in 2015.