Kate Elizabeth Hansen (born June 9, 1992) is an American luger who has competed since 2003. In 2008, she became the youngest Junior World Champion, at age fifteen.

Kate Hansen
Hansen in 2013
Personal information
Birth nameKate Elizabeth Hansen[1]
Born (1992-06-09) June 9, 1992 (age 32)
Burbank, California, U.S.
EducationBrigham Young University
Height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight130 lb (59 kg)
Sport
Country United States
Sport Luge
ClubBrigham Young University
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals2014 Sochi

Career

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Hansen has been competing since 2003. She would practice luge in California by riding a skateboard down hills on her back.[2] In 2008, at the age of fifteen, she was the youngest-ever Junior World Champion. She has been on the United States National Team since 2007, and she finished 16th in the women's singles at a World Cup event in Calgary on November 21, 2009. Hansen won the USA Luge National Championship in October 2013 with a broken foot. In January 2014 she was the U.S. Olympic Committee's athlete of the month.[2] She finished 10th place in the Sochi 2014 Olympics.

Competition Location Date(s) Time Rank Events
2007–2008 Junior World Cup Winterberg, Germany November 23, 2007 1:31.974 3rd (Bronze) Youth A Women
2007–2008 Junior World Cup Altenberg, Germany November 30, 2007 1:24.267 4th Youth A Women
2007–2008 Junior World Cup Innsbruck, Austria December 7, 2007 1:34.128 29th Youth A Women
2007–2008 Junior World Cup Königssee, Germany December 14, 2007 DNF Youth A Women
2007–2008 Junior World Cup Park City, USA January 17, 2008 1:24.503 1st (Gold) Youth A Women
2007–2008 Junior World Cup Calgary, Canada January 24, 2008 1:32.068 1st (Gold) Youth A Women
2007–2008 Junior World Championship Lake Placid, USA February 7, 2008 1:29.105 1st (Gold) Junior Women
February 8, 2008 2:18.676 1st (Gold) Team Competition
2008–2009 Junior World Cup Winterberg, Germany January 9, 2009 1:29.464 6th Junior Women
2008–2009 Junior World Cup Altenberg, Germany January 16, 2009 1:28.712 8th Junior Women
2008–2009 Junior World Cup Innsbruck, Austria January 23, 2009 1:22.877 12th Junior Women
January 23, 2009 2:11.402 1st (Gold) Team Competition
2008–2009 Junior World Championship Nagano, Japan February 13, 2009 1:30.911 5th Junior Women
February 14, 2009 2:26.116 2nd (Silver) Team Competition
2009–2010 Viessmann World Cup Calgary, Canada November 19, 2009 0:47.667 5th Nation Cup Women
November 21, 2009 1:35.421 16th World Cup Women
2009–2010 Viessmann World Cup Innsbruck, Austria November 27, 2009 0:40.374 10th Nation Cup Women
November 28, 2009 1:20.169 13th World Cup Women
2009–2010 Viessmann World Cup Altenberg, Germany December 4, 2009 0:55.784 24th Nation Cup Women
2009–2010 Viessmann World Cup Lillehammer, Norway December 11, 2009 0:49.752 17th Nation Cup Women
2009–2010 Junior World Cup Königssee, Germany January 15, 2010 DNF Junior Women
2009–2010 Junior World Cup Oberhof, Germany January 23, 2010 2:02.064 29th Junior Women
2009–2010 Junior World Cup Winterberg, Germany February 5, 2010 1:30.677 8th Junior Women
2009–2010 Junior World Championship Innsbruck, Austria January 31, 2010 1:20.246 3rd (Bronze) Junior Women
January 31, 2010 2:11.961 3rd (Bronze) Team Relay
2010–2011 Viessmann World Cup Park City, USA December 18, 2010 0:44.260 9th Nation Cup Women
2010–2011 Junior World Cup Altenberg, Germany January 14, 2011 1:27.926 6th Junior Women
2010–2011 Junior World Cup Innsbruck, Austria January 28, 2011 1:21.873 18th Junior Women
2010–2011 Junior World Championship Oberhof, Germany February 5, 2011 1:28.844 6th Junior Women
February 6, 2011 2:21.707 3rd (Bronze) Team Relay
2011–2012 Viessmann World Cup 23rd
2012–2013 Viessmann World Cup 20th Place
2013 National Championship 1:29.601 Gold
2013 FIL World Championship Whistler, Canada 14th
2013–2014 Viessmann World Cup including Team Relay Winterberg, Germany 2nd (Silver) Team Relay
7th Women's Singles
2013–2014 Viessmann World Cup including Team Relay Whistler, Canada 6th Place
2013–2014 Viessmann World Cup including Team Relay Park City, Utah 4th Place
2013–2014 Viessmann World Cup Lillehammer, Norway 1:23.976 1st (Gold) Women's Singles
2014 Olympic Games Sochi, Russia February 10, 2014 3:22.667 10th Place Women's Singles
DNS = Did not start DNF = Did not finish

Sochi 2014

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Hansen appeared in the Olympics for the first time at Sochi 2014, where she had a 10th-place finish with a time of 3 minutes 22.667 seconds.

Personal life

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Hansen is a Mormon and currently attends Brigham Young University.[3] She took a year off to attend the Olympics. She graduated from La Cañada High School.[4] She resides in La Cañada Flintridge, California.

Hansen is a fan of Beyoncé and listens to her exclusively while warming up for her races. She warms up by dancing, which became her trademark during the Sochi 2014 Olympics.[5] The official Facebook page of Beyonce posted the link to her dance warmup before Hansen's final race in the Sochi 2014 luge event, wishing her luck.[6] The dance apparently came about after she broke her foot and had trouble running to warm up.[3]

Hansen teamed up with Jimmy Kimmel in a prank video which made it seem that a wolf had broken into the apartment where she was staying. A few days later, they admitted to the prank after having scared the media, as well as security.

References

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  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Kate Hansen". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Kragthorpe, Kurt. "Olympics: BYU student 10th after two solid luge runs". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved February 13, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Judd, Brandon (February 10, 2014). "BYU Student, U.S. Luger Kate Hansen's Pre-race Dance Routine At Olympics Grabs Worldwide Attention". Deseret News. Retrieved February 11, 2014.
  4. ^ Campa, Andrew (February 11, 2014). "La Canada's Kate Hansen Accomplishes Goal of Taking 10th Place at Olympics". La Canada Valley Sun. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  5. ^ Plaschke, Bill (February 11, 2014). "Sochi Olympics: Finishing 10th, luger Kate Hansen is Games' big winner". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 11, 2014.
  6. ^ Cooper, Sam (February 10, 2014). "American Luger Kate Hansen Dances To Beyoncé Before Every Race and Doesn't Care Who Watches". Yahoo. Retrieved February 11, 2014.
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