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U.S. luger Kate Hansen's pre-race ritual: Dancing to Beyonce

Kate Hansen's sport may be luge but she also has an Olympic-sized dance routine.

NBC cameras and a Getty photographer captured the young American luger doing her pre-slide routine: dancing while listening to music on her headphones.

 What is she listening to that has her so in the zone?

"Strictly Beyonce," Hansen told a reporter.  "My girl Bey! She just gets me fierce and I get stoked. I've got good mojo on, so it's how I roll."

On Monday, she rolled to a 10th place finish after the first two runs of the women's luge competition. Teammate Erin Hamlin finished third.

Hansen's diva routine has clearly rubbed off on her teammates, as evidenced by this photo she posted to Twitter:

 Hansen is one of the younger sliders on the World Cup luge circuit, yet can talk just about anyone into anything. One of her claims to fame is making videos of athletes, including a holiday-themed one this season where she and fellow U.S. luger Hamlin got athletes, coaches and even media from plenty of nations to take part and lip sync Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas."

 

2014 Winter Olympics: 10 U.S. athletes to watch
2014 Winter Olympics: 10 U.S. athletes to watch
 So that's earned her a certain amount of acclaim among sliders.

Back at home in Southern California, they're taking notice as well. Turns out Hansen - from La Canada, Calif., a student at Brigham Young and America's first winner of a World Cup singles race this season since 1997 - is on a billboard wishing her luck at the Sochi Games.

"Apparently, the Olympics are a pretty big deal because someone put up a billboard of me," Hansen says. "And I've never been on a billboard. That doesn't happen."

Clearly, it does. And to use one of her go-to words, she's pretty stoked about it.

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