Canada races to bronze medal in team relay at luge World Cup on Sunday
By: THE CANADIAN PRESSALTENBERG, Germany - Canada's luge relay team reached the podium for a second consecutive week, capturing a bronze medal at a World Cup event Sunday.
Calgary's Alex Gough, Sam Edney and brothers Chris and Mike Moffat posted a combined time of two minutes 26.941 seconds. The trio of Canadian sleds teamed up to win gold in the first relay of the season last weekend in Austria.
"That was another exceptional performance by our team and shows us we are right up there with the best countries in the world," said Canadian coach Wolfgang Staudinger. "Our sport believes this will be an Olympic race in the near future and people are taking it very seriously. It tells me we are on track and can compete for the podium when we are at our best."
The team competition consists of one female, one male and one doubles team, who each complete a run for a combined final time. Athletes hit a pad at the finish line, which in turn opens the gate at the start for the next team member.
"This is a very important measuring stick for us because it demonstrates the overall performance of a nation, and we are always right in the hunt for the medals in the team event," Staudinger said. "I put a lot of stake in measuring our split times in this event and see where we stack up. Again, this result shows we are capable of doing great things."
Germany won the gold in 2:25.742, while the Americans were second in 2:26.680.
Earlier in the day, Calgary's Meaghan Simister matched her career-best World Cup result with a 10th-place finish in women's singles, posting a combined time of 1:48.897.
"That was a very solid performance by Meaghan with two really good starts and two good runs," Staudinger said.
Simister had two 10th-place finishes last year, at the Whistler, B.C., Sliding Centre and in Oberhof, Germany.
Gough was 12th Sunday in 1:48.975, while Regan Lauscher of Red Deer, Alta., who's on the mend after double shoulder surgery, finished 14th in 1:49.034.
The Germans swept the top four spots. Tatjana Hufner captured gold in 1:47.555, Natalie Geisenberger was second (1:47.744), while Anke Wischnewski completed the podium sweep (1:47.994).