5'5"
32
Suffield, CT
Emily started luge at age 10 when she was found in a "slider search" by USA Luge in Rhode Island. She made her debut on the FIL World Cup tour at age 16 and just missed making the 2010 U.S. Olympic Team when Sweeney lost in a special run-off against her older sister, Megan for the final U.S. Olympic women's luge spot to the Olympic Winter Games Vancouver 2010.
Sweeney made her Olympic debut in 2018 and crashed on her fourth and final run in the women’s singles event fracturing both her back and neck. Sweeney did not resume training until six months after the crash while also dealing with depression saying: "It (the crash) broke me in a lot of ways. After that, I had fear." In the season she returned to the track, she would win a bronze medal at the 2019 FIL World Championship, a result she would repeat 2025 FIL World Championships, becoming only the second American to claim multiple singles medals in luge.
Emily is an U.S. Army veteran, serving 10+ years in New York and Colorado. She started a non-profit, Champions 4 Changes, which connects Olympians and Paralympians with programs for individuals with disabilities to empower through movement through virtual exercise.
She married Italian men’s luger and 2022 Olympic bronze medalist Dominik Fischnaller in May 2025, and they built a house together in Meransen, Italy.
USA Luge's Emily Sweeney could call multiple states in the Northeast her home. While she spent significant time in Maine and Connecticut, she often attributes her hometown to Lake Placid, New York. It is a small mountain town known primarily for two th...
As the excitement of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games winds down, it’s time for Team USA’s winter sports athletes to begin their trek towards qualifying for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.Although winter athletes typically spen...
USA Luge's Emily Sweeney could call multiple states in the Northeast her home. While she spent significant time in Maine and Connecticut, she often attributes her hometown to Lake Placid, New York. It is a small mountain town known primarily for two th...
The four-time Olympian announced his retirement ahead of this weekend’s world cup in Lake Placid, New York.
In her fifteenth season in luge, two-time Olympian Emily Sweeney wants to keep learning how to slide faster.
