Winter Olympics Luge: What are the rules and score?

Luge is the fastest Winter Olympics sports, so what are the rules and how do they score to determine a winner?

Luge is considered the fastest sport at the Winter Olympics, riders sending themselves down an icy chute at over 80 MPH. But what are the rules with this sport?

Have no fear, we’re here to break it down. First, there are four different luge events: men’s, women’s, doubles and the team relay.

In the singles competitons, men’s and women’s, each rider will get four runs over two days. The times from the four runs are added together and the fastest cumulative time determines the winner.

The doubles competiton takes place in a single day, each pair getting two runs. Again, the fastest cumulative time determines the winner.

The team relay is a competition involving three sleds: women’s singles, men’s singles and doubles. After the first sled presses an overhead touchpad at the bottom of the track, the next sled will begin. The winner is the team with the lowest time after all three sleds cross the finish line.

For a ride to count, the rider has to be in contact with the sled as they cross the finish line.

Now, while all the riders go down the same chute, they don’t all compete over the same distance. The men travel down the chute for about .84 miles and the women start the course further down and travel about .75 miles. All sleds start from the women’s start during the team relay.

There is a weight limit, as NBC Sports explains:

"There is no maximum weight for athletes. But lighter athletes are allowed to carry additional weights to act as a ballast, up to 13kg (28.6 pounds) for men and 10kg (22 pounds) for women.A singles sled weighs between 21-25kg (46.3-55.1 pounds), and a doubles sled weighs between 25-30kg (55.1-66.1 pounds)."

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