Jessica Doreen Degenhardt (born 21 April 2002) is a German luger. She is four-time Junior World Champion and won gold medal at the

2020 Winter Youth Olympics The 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games (; ; ; ), officially known as the III Winter Youth Olympic Games and commonly known as Lausanne 2020 (Italian and Romansh: ''Losanna 2020''), were the third edition of the Winter Youth Olympics; a major int ...

at doubles' race and silver medal at the individual race. She also retains the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

gold medal at

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

in women's doubles discipline and Women's doubles' sprint discipline in

Career

Degenhardt started her luge career at PSV Elbe Dresden in 2010 when she was eight years old. Currently, she is a member of the RRC Altenberg club and German national team.

Youth and Junior career

Degenhardt kicked off her first season in the youth field (Youth B) in 2015/16. After successful season at Youth B division, she moved up to youth A division in the 2016/17 season. In this season, she finished the German championship in Winterberg as runner-up. She also secured the multiple victories in the Youth A World Cup including the Oberhof, Altenberg and Winterberg races and won the overall ranking of the World Cup. In the 2017/18 season, she also competed in the Youth A division. At the German A-Youth Championships on her home track in Altenberg, she won the title and moved up to Junior division. At the 2018 Junior World Championships on her home track, she achieved bronze behind Jessica Tiebel and the Russian Tatjana Zwetowa. In 2018/19 season, Degenhardt started to compete in the Junior World Cup. In Oberhof, she won her first race in the Junior World Cup and also won the relay race with the German team. She finished second in Winterberg and third in Calgary. In the overall standings, she was only beaten by the Russian Zwetowa by 15 points with 402 points. She also competed with Vanessa Schneider in the girls' doubles race, which was held for the first time this season. In their first race together in

St. Moritz St. Moritz ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

, they took silver behind their teammates Anka Jänicke and Saskia Schirmer. The end of the season, Degenhardt/Schneider won the two remaining races of the season in Winterberg and Oberhof and ended up second in the overall standings behind Caitlin Nash and Natalie Corless. At the Junior World Championships 2019 in Igls, Degenhardt concluded the competition with third place behind Cheyenne Rosenthal and Verena Hofer. In the 2019/20 season, she started with two wins in Igls, with Schneider in doubles and in singles. She also secured second place in the second individual race in Igls behind Kailey Allan from Canada. Degenhardt/Schneider won the overall World Cup for juniors with five victories in six races and 500 points. At the

, she was the German flag bearer in the opening ceremony. In Winter Youth Olympics individual race, she defeated to her teammate Merle Fräbel. However, one day later she won the first ever Olympic gold medal in the women's doubles with Schneider. In mid-February, Degenhardt won the gold medal at the 2020 Junior World Luge Championships in Oberhof in the individual ahead of the Russian Diana Loginowa and the Austrian Lisa Schulte, as well as together with Moritz Bollmann and the doubles Max Ewald and Jakob Jannusch in the team relay race. The 2020/21 junior season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so Degenhardt was unable to start a race.

Senior career

After Jessica Tiebel withdrew from the ongoing competitions of the 2019/20 season, Degenhardt moved up to the World Cup team for the last race of the season at Königssee after her outstanding performances in the youth and junior divisions in the season. In her first ever World Cup race, she completed with eleventh place, missing out on the top ten by just one place and 0.02 seconds compared to Sandra Robatscher. In the overall world cup ranking, she reached 43rd place with 34 points, tied with the Pole Natalia Jamróz. At the inaugural doubles world championships in 2022 in Winterberg, Degenhardt won the title with her doubles partner Cheyenne Rosenthal.

Luge results

All results are sourced from the International Luge Federation (FIL) and German Bobsleigh, Luge and Skeleton Federation (BSD).

World Championships

* 6 medals (4 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)

World Cup

Singles

Doubles

References

External links

*
Jessica Degenhardt
at the German Bobsleigh, Luge and Skeleton Federation {{DEFAULTSORT:Degenhardt, Jessica Living people 2002 births German female lugers Sportspeople from Dresden 21st-century German sportswomen