Erin Hamlin

Erin Hamlin emerged from a small town in the middle of New York State to become a champion luger and Olympic medalist. Hamlin was born in New Hartford, N.Y., on Nov. 19, 1986. She became interested in the sport of luge when she was 12 years old and took classes at the U.S. Luge Screening Camp in Syracuse, N.Y. She moved from her hometown of Remsen, N.Y., to Lake Placid to take advantage of its Olympic training facility. There, she won a gold medal at the Junior National Championship at age 17. She qualified for the U.S. Junior National Team and competed against racers around the world. After becoming pro, she upped her game by entering the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. In the 2009 World Championships at Lake Placid, Hamlin became the first U.S. woman to win a luge world championship, simultaneously breaking a 99-race winning streak by German women in major international luge contests. She raced in the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics. It was at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, that she finally earned a medal, the bronze, clinching the U.S. team's first Olympic medal in the sport of luge. She won a gold medal and two silver medals at the 2017 FIL World Luge Championships. Hamlin eyed her entry into the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, as potentially her last international competition before winding down her career.