Claim: In 2009, Erin Hamlin (a four-time Olympian) placed first at the FIL World Luge Championships held in Lake Placid, New York making her the first American to win a world championship in  Luge World Cup, and then she took the singles bronze medal in Sochi's 2014 Winter Olympics.
Evidence: 2009 Lake Placid Erin Hamlin (USA) Erin Mullady Hamlin (born 19 November 1986) is a four-time Olympian and the first female American luger to medal at any Winter Olympics, as well as the first American of either gender to medal in luge singles competition and the first non-European woman to take an Olympic medal in luge. She took the singles bronze medal in Sochi's 2014 Winter Olympics, something the Associated Press called "a feat that will surely go down as perhaps the greatest moment in USA Luge history".