Natural Luge Press Release
-The Season Begins-
Upon careful inspection of the track, it was clear the proper preparations had been made. The ice was thick and fast. There was no question whether or not the ice would hold up for the race. However, one of the braking areas was not made safe enough, which resulted in a close call for one of the Canadian sliders.
Unfortunately, after three crashes in the training runs and mediocre results in the actual race, the Canadians came away feeling disappointed about their lack of preseason training.
A Canadian launched protest about track preparation in the braking areas, which lead to one of our crashes, was denied to give Corey a second run. The protest was made after his foot got caught in the soft snow in the board less braking area, and he was thrown from his sled in dramatic fashion. Nonetheless, the protest did lead to some success when the particular braking area was made safer by turning the soft snow on the side into hard ice preventing any further incidents.
However, there were some highlights to the weekend the boys were excited about. First off, they looked great! The new Karbon team wear provided made them the hottest topic on the track. Also, everyone on the team felt they had achieved small victories they could be happy about, for example; an 8th place split and positive feedback from their foreign coaches and peers.
Next on the Canadian's schedule is the third World Cup race in Olang, Italy. The Canadians will be training for the next three days before the start of the race on Thursday night. The boys plan on entering this event with higher consistency and improved performances.
Results
Men
1. Gernot Schwab AUT 2:23.82
2. Patrick Pigneter ITA 2:23.94
3. Phillip Wagner AUT 2:24.84
22. Corey Pusey CAN 2:31.15
24. John Gibson CAN 2:31.56
30. Kaj Johnson CAN 2:36.25
33. Greg Jones CAN 2:37.92
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
| Chris Dornan CODA, Communications Specialist C: 403-585-0254 |