Alumna Marge Hartfel among engineers improving sled speed

Editor's note: On February 10, Ashley Farquharson won an Olympic bronze medal in the women’s luge singles. 

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (01/30/2026) — The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina opens on Feb. 6—and University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumna Marge Hartfel can’t wait for her favorite ice-track sliding sports to begin. 

Hartfel, who holds a master’s in mechanical engineering and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, has nearly 30 years of experience working on sports science and engineering projects with USA Luge. While she’ll be cheering for all the US athletes in Italy, Hartfel will be paying closest attention to the USA Luge team. 

The Minnesota resident has been part of the research and technical team that’s helping USA Luge, and its sled slide faster and more efficiently. Luge competitions are scheduled for February 7-12 at the Cortina Sliding Centre in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

"Since the season started a couple of months ago, the team has been doing well,” said Hartfel. “Some of their sleds are using the technology we identified in our research team’s work. That makes me happy."

"There are a million variables that go into a winning performance," she added, "but our research team is playing its part.”

And that’s all she can reveal—in a sport that tracks time to 1/1,000th of a second.

The 13-member research team she’s leading includes engineers and scientists from global companies and other research institutions who support USA Luge. 

The national team, with athletes such as three-time Olympian Emily Fischnaller and top US male slider Jonny Gustafson—will compete in four events: women’s singles, women’s doubles, men’s singles, and men’s doubles.

“I’ve been so fortunate to be at two Winter Olympic Games, 1988 and 1992 but I'm happy to be watching this one from home,” she added. “The media has really perfected broadcasting luge and bobsled, and skeleton to the point where you get a terrific view on TV of every part of the event. I’m also a big fan of curling every four years, so I’m looking forward to that, too.”

Read more about Hartfel, and her time at the University of Minnesota, on CSE News.

Story by Pauline Oo