Chris Mazdzer wins USA's first-ever male singles luge medal

Chris Mazdzer has reason to celebrate. (Getty)

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Chris Mazdzer made history for the United States on Sunday night, becoming the first man ever to win a medal in a luge singles competition.

With a final time of 3:10.728, Mazdzer won silver thanks to a strong closing run over the last two rounds. He finished just .026 behind gold medalist David Gleirscher from Austria. Germany’s Johannes Ludwig rounded out the podium with a time of 3:10.932.

Halfway through the four-round event, Mazdzer was in fourth place, with a total time of 1:35.517 — just one one-thousandth of a second behind Roman Repilov, Olympic Athlete from Russia, but it would have been enough to keep him off the medal stand.

Mazdzer then unleashed a third-round run of 47.534, the finest time of the entire competition to date, that vaulted him into second place, just behind Felix Loch’s 2:22.259. Mazdzer bounced the sled in exultation after his finish, knowing he’d finished a pristine run.

That left only the final run, and Mazdzer did exactly what he needed to do to snare the historic medal for the U.S.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook." data-reactid="28">____
Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

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