Canada's Alex Gough Settles for Seventh Spot at Luge World Cup in Calgary

CALGARY—With the nation’s medal hopes resting on her shoulders, Canada’s Alex Gough finished in seventh spot at the Luge World Cup in Calgary on Friday evening.

Coming off a historic bronze-medal performance last week in Germany, the 23-year-old blonde bomber was poised to attack the podium for the second-straight week after setting a Canadian track record at 46.965 in her opening trip down the Canada Olympic Park track to put her in fourth spot. However, a small mistake driving to early out of corner eight during her second run bounced her back three spots in the standings to seventh place with a combined time of one minute, 34.441 seconds. (1:34.441).

“I just made a mistake and it cost me tonight,” said a disappointed Gough, who is a two-time Olympian. “I think the good thing is I made a mistake and still finished in seventh spot. That shows me how far the Canadian program has come. We are now disappointed with seventh-place finishes because we want to get in the top-five and on the podium.”

Gough wasn’t the only Canuck blazing down her home track on a chilly evening in Calgary. World Cup rookie, Arianne Jones of Calgary, posted her third consecutive top-15 result in as many races in her young career. The 20-year-old placed 12th after posting a two-run time of 1:34.780.

“The ice was really fast tonight and I beat my personal best time by quite a bit so I’m really happy,” said Jones, who is by far the smallest athlete on the elite circuit. “It is great to have Alex here with me who is such a great slider because I am learning from her all the time. I need to keep working hard and getting experience.”

Germany’s Tatjana Hüfner won her third gold medal in as many races on the World Cup this year. Hüfner, who also won the Calgary stop last season, clocked a top time of 1:33.658. Anke Wischnewski, also of Germany, finished in second spot at 1:33.801, while Erin Hamlin of the United States prevented the German sweep by locking up the bronze medal with a time of 1:33.955.

The Viessmann Luge World Cup wraps up on Saturday in Calgary with men’s singles races at 3:30 p.m., followed by the doubles event at 6 p.m.

The Canadian Luge Association is the governing body for luge racing in Canada. 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
Women’s Top-Five Results:
1.Tatjana Hüfner, GER, 1:33.658; 2. Anke Wischnewski, GER, 1:33.801; 3. Erin Hamlin, USA, 1:33.955; 4. Natalie Geisenberger, GER, 1:33.978; 5. Alexandra Rodionova, RUS, 1:34.255
Canadian Results:
7. Alex Gough, Calgary, 1:34.441; 12. Arianne Jones, Calgary, 1:34.780

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