Canada takes bronze in luge relay
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Canada's luge team marched to the podium for the third consecutive time, racing to a bronze medal in the relay event at a World Cup race on Sunday.
Calgary's Alex Gough, Sam Edney and brothers Chris and Mike Moffat teamed up to post a combined time of two minutes, 39.077 seconds.
The trio of Canadian sleds won gold in the first relay of the season in Austria, and bronze in their final World Cup stop prior to the holiday break in Altenberg, Germany.
"We had another good performance in the relay and our times were right there with the leading nations where we need to be," said Canadian coach Wolfgang Staudinger.
The team competition, which is not contested in the Olympics, consists of a female, a male and a doubles team, who each complete one run for a combined final time.
The race is run as a relay with athletes hitting a pad at the finish, which in turn opens the start gate for the next team member.
Germany won the gold in 2:38.302, while the Austrians were second in 2:39.077.
Albert Demtschenko of Russia broke the track record in both runs to win the men's singles race ahead of two-time Olympic champion Armin Zoeggeler of Italy.
Demtschenko finished in 1:34.176 seconds for his second World Cup event of the season. Zoeggeler was .373 seconds behind, with David Moeller of Germany trailing .464 in third on the oldest track in the world.
Edney was the top Canadian, finishing 15th. Ian Cockerline of Calgary was 19th.