Luge Teen Maya Yuen Slides to 11th at Youth Olympic Games
GANGWON, Kor.– Maya Yuen led a couple of Canadian teenagers with an 11th-place finish to open the 2024 Youth Olympic Games for Team Canada in Gangwon, South Korea on Saturday.
The 16-year-old Yuen, who is currently a member of Luge Canada’s Junior Development Team, clocked a time of 1:38.277 in her two blasts down the 1,202-metre chute at the Alpensia Sliding Centre.
“I was really happy with the two runs I put down. Although the first one wasn’t perfectly clean, I think that I made a lot of progress since the beginning of the week and I am feeling really good about the two solid runs,” said the Calgarian.
Yuen, who placed second at Luge Canada’s 2023 Canadian Youth Championships, was in 15th spot after the opening heat. She cleaned things up while sliding through the 14-corner track for a second time to climb four spots in the standings.
“It is just so exhilarating to be here. I knew my parents were sitting in corner 14, and I could feel their support. It was really awesome,” said Yuen, who won a bronze medal at the Youth A Continental Cup one year ago in Whistler. “I am so proud to be able to have the maple leaf on my uniform, and proudly represent Canada. It is an amazing privilege to have the opportunity to do this.”
Yuen finished just over 2.5 seconds off the golden mark clocked by Germany’s Antonia Pietschmann (1:35.774). Italy’s Alexandra Obertstolz slid to the silver medal with a time of 1:36.326. Austria’s Marie Riedl locked up the final spot on the women’s singles podium after stopping the clock at 1:36.928.
The youngest member of the 79 athletes competing in 13 sports for Team Canada, Ava Lucia Huerta, placed 28th. The 14-year-old combined run times for a 1:43.085 total.
“The runs were a bit rocky today. I wish they could have been better, but it was a win to qualify and be here,” said Huerta. “It is cool to be the youngest member and a tremendous honour to represent my sport and country. I had so much fun.”
The next generation of feet-first sliders competed on the host track for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games where Canadian athletes made history with the first two Olympics medals in the sport. Canada’s most decorated luge athlete, Alex Gough, triumphed with a historic bronze medal in the women’s singles race just days before joining forces with her teammates, Sam Edney, Tristan Walker and Justin Snith, for a silver in the relay competition.
Watching the historic moment on television from her Calgary home is what sparked the Olympic dream in the young Maya Yuen.
“I think it is crazy (this is where history was made for our sport in Canada) and I have the same opportunity to race in the same competitive environment as they had here six years,” said Yuen, who added that Gough sent the team a video message prior to the race, encouraging them to take in the experience and have fun sliding.
“It’s crazy that I’m here under somewhat of the same pressure as they had, and I had a good race, so I’m really happy.”
Team Canada has sent luge athletes to all previous editions of the winter Youth Olympic Games and has won three medals. At Lillehammer 2016, Brooke Apshkrum won the gold medal in women’s singles and Reid Watts won the bronze medal in men’s singles. At Lausanne 2020, Natalie Corless and Caitlin Nash won the silver medal in women’s doubles.
To date, Team Canada has converted five Youth Olympic luge athletes into Olympians. Mitchel Malyk and John Fennell competed at Innsbruck 2012 and became Olympians at Sochi 2014. Malyk also competed at PyeongChang 2018. Apshkrum and Watts competed at Lillehammer 2016 and became Olympians at PyeongChang 2018. Watts also competed at Beijing 2022. Natalie Corless competed at Lausanne 2020 and became an Olympian at Beijing 2022.
Bastian van Wouw, of Red Deer, Alta., will hit the start handles on Sunday for the men’s singles in South Korea.
The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) are the world’s largest multi-sport event for high-performance young athletes aged 15 – 18. Gangwon 2024 will begin on January 19 and will end on February 1, 2024 and will feature 1900 athletes. Gangwon 2024 will be the fourth edition of the Winter YOG and the first in Asia. It will have a fully gender-balanced sporting program, and will feature seven sports, 15 disciplines, and a total of 81 events.