Canada’s Reid Watts Slides to 17th in Wild Olympic Luge Race
BEIJING, Chn.—It wasn’t the result he was looking for, but Canada’s Reid Watts never quit en route to a 17th-place finish at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games on Sunday in Beijing.
Living his childhood dream for the second time at just 23 years old, Watts rebounded after a disappointing opening night to post a four-run time off 3:53.293 in the men’s singles race. The Olympic luge event at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre consists of four runs over two days.
“It was a step in the direction from yesterday, but looking at the week overall, I’m not too happy with the way I slid,” said Watts, who was connected virtually with his parents during an “athlete moment” that was set up on the finish dock. “It Is what it is. It was a wild race that took out a lot of great athletes.”
The Whistler, B.C. resident sat 17th at the midway point of the two-day affair following a costly mistake when he steered to aggressively into corner two on his second run Saturday that dropping him three spots in the standings.
“That second run I really threw any chance of any result right into the garbage. I was pretty gutted. All I could do is rest up, regroup and try my best for today and see what could have been,” said Watts.
A good night sleep following some video review and a few adjustments to the sled and the young Canuck threw down a solid third run on the spectacular 16-corner track to grab one spot on the field – the same position he finished at the Olympic Test Event in November.
“It wasn’t the run I wanted to go after, but I went after it nonetheless with a nothing to lose mentality,” added Watts. “There were some mistakes, nothing major, in the upper section which is so costly out here.”
One final trip down the track that ended in a late tap against the side wall bumped the lone Canadian in the field back into 17th in the final standings.
Watts was forced to watch a battle amongst the sport’s elite for the medals.
Germany’s Johannes Ludwig set two track records in a gold-medal performance, winning with a time of 3:48.735. Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl was second at 3:48.895, while Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller slid onto the bronze-medal step of the podium with a time of 3:49.686.
Watts has had high expectations for himself since he first barreled down an icy chute on a luge sled in his hometown at the Whistler Sliding Centre when he was nine years old.
Drawn by the speed of the sport, Watts has been celebrating milestones in his development while travelling the world on the national team, chasing his Olympic dreams. The first ever Olympic luge athlete from Whistler, B.C. caught the world’s attention with a bronze-medal finish at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games.
All of 23 now, Watts served warning with a 12th-place finish at the 2018 Olympics that he was ready to carry the torch for a new generation of Canadian sliders on the same night that Canada’s most successful male luge athlete ever, Sam Edney, competed in his final men’s singles race.
Watts will now cheer on his three teammates, two teenagers who also call the Whistler area home, in the women’s singles event which gets underway Monday. Olympic medallists, Justin Snith and Tristan Walker, will suit up in the doubles race on Wednesday.
Watts will then get another shot at conquering this hard and unforgiving sport when he slides into the Olympic spotlight once again, February 10, with his Canadian mates for the team relay.
Complete Olympic Men’s Singles Results: