CANADA'S SAM EDNEY SETTLES FOR TOP-20 FINISH DESPITE FAST OPENING HEAT
For the second consecutive day, a young Canadian luge athlete was on track to posting a career-best result, but was unable to find the fast line to the finish in the second run on the Olympic Track in Cesana Pariol, Italy.On Sunday, it was Calgary's Sam Edney who put down the seventh fastest time in the opening heat of the two-run race after completing each of the 19 curves at the 2006 Olympic venue in a time of 53.29 seconds. But like his teammate, Alex Gough in women's singles Saturday, the 22-year-old Edney stumbled out of the start in the second heat and fell out of contention, settling for 19th spot and a combined time of one minute 47.252 seconds.
"It was another difficult day for our team," said Walter Corey, head coach, Canadian Luge Team. "Sam was on track for an outstanding career best finish after a great first heat. Unfortunately his hand slipped on the push and he hammered the left wall. In a field of Olympic and World Cup champions, you can't afford mistakes like that."
Calgary's Ian Cockerline and Jeff Christie rounded out the men's team, finishing 24th and 25th respectively, resulting in a disappointing day for the young Canadian men's team poised to threaten for the podium and climb into the top-10 consistently against the world's best luge athletes.
"It was not the start we were hoping for, but we have to look at the positives and move on," said Corey. "We need to continue to build on these results and start putting together two great runs. If we can do that, then the Canadian team has tremendous potential to start achieving top-10 results on a regular basis."
It was a repeat performance of the Olympic Games for Italy's Armin Zöggeler, who solidified the gold medal on his home track with a time of 1:46.061. It was the 31st career World Cup victory for Zöggeler who is approaching the Viessman Luge World Cup record of 33 held by Austrian Markus Prock and Germany's Georg Hackl.
Russia's Albert Demtchenko claimed the silver medal at 1:46.449, while Zöggeler's teammate, Rainhold Rainer, rounded out the top three at 1:46.530.
The Viessmann Luge World Cup will now head to North America where the world's best sliders will compete in Salt Lake City, Utah, December 1, 2006.
The Canadian Luge Association is the governing body for luge racing in Canada. In partnership with CODA, the Canadian Luge Association operates the Olympic Luge Training Centre at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, which develops our nation's high-performance luge athletes and promotes the sport across the country. For more information on the Canadian Luge Association, please visit us at www.luge.ca on the Internet.
Complete Results: www.fil-luge.org
Men's Top-Five Results:
1. Armin Zöggeler, ITA, 1:46.061; 2. Albert Demtchenko, RUS, 1:46.449; 3. Rainhold Rainer, ITA, 1:46.530; 4. David Möller , GER, 1:46.557; 5. Wilfred Huber, ITA, 1:46.630.
Canadian Result:
19. Sam Edney, Calgary, 1:47.252; 24. Ian Cockerline, Calgary, 1:47.470; 25. Jeff Christie, Calgary, 1:47.584.
*****
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Chris Dornan
Media and Public Relations
Canadian Luge Association
T: 403-470-9546