For the first time, the US national luge team won a silver medal in men's single heats, and their champion Chris Mazzer did it. In the past, American Olympians won bronze and silver medals in women's singles and men's doubles. For many years, the German and Austrian teams were favorites in this sport. Sledge speed during the race can reach up to 140 kilometers per hour, and participants can control them by changing the position of their legs or moving their shoulders.

One of the components of the success of the US team directly refers to the professionalism of Chris Mazzer, who has been preparing for 16 years and has been intensively trained to reach such heights. His teammate, Taylor Morris, calls him "an animal," whose years of hard work clearly paid off at the end. But another component of their success is undoubtedly innovative technologies, namely, 3D printing technology, which their team used to create their equipment.

As stated earlier, they collaborated with Stratasys in the design and manufacture of their sleigh. Initially, the bodies of all team members were scanned, after which the sleds were designed individually for each participant. The process of designing the sleigh and equipment is very time consuming and can take up to several weeks, clarified in the team. The technology of 3D printing Stratasys, allowed them to significantly reduce the time on the manufacturing process of equipment to create an individual sled, which allows you to get it in a few hours.

The head of technical programs for the US luge team, John Owen, says that using 3D printing has made the team more competitive. Now they can "constantly change the design and almost immediately test new ideas on the tracks, compared to traditional methods," he said. He also added that this technology provides an ideal fit for the sled individually for each rider, thereby reducing production time and costs.