Jeff Christie Slides to Season-Best Result in 11th at Luge World Cup in Germany

 ALTENBERG, Ger.—Canada’s Jeff Christie slid to his best result of the season after finishing 11th in men’s singles racing at the luge World Cup in Altenberg, Germany on Sunday.

The nine-year veteran of the national squad put together two solid runs down the challenging Altenberg track for a combined time of one minute, 51.671 seconds.

“I really had a poor week of training, but our coach had a good talk with us heading into the race and I was able to relax and things started to click,” said Christie, who has traditionally struggled on the Altenberg track. “I haven’t liked sliding here and have had some of the worst crashes of my career on this track. But I like it now – funny how quickly things can change.”

Christie has struggled to find his elite form of two years ago where he was a regular contender in the top-15, but is back on track heading into the World Championships set for next weekend.

“It is finally nice to have a good result,” said Christie. Especially going into the World Championships, this gets me back into the A-seed and gives me a little confidence back. I was really comfortable on the sled today and looking forward to next week.”

Germany’s Felix Loch was the man to beat on Sunday, winning his fourth World Cup race with a golden time of 1:50.72. Italy’s Armin Zoggeler grabbed the silver at 1:50.86, while Russia’s Albert Demchenko rounded out the men’s podium in third at 1:51.13.

Two other Canadians also suited up. Calgary’s Sam Edney was 20th at 1:52.219, while Brendan Hauptman, of Kimberly, B.C., finished 22nd (1:52.409).

The Canadian squad is en route to Cesana, Italy where they will compete in the World Championships on the 2006 Olympic track, January 29-30.

The Canadian Luge Association is a not-for-profit organization responsible for governing the sport of luge across the country. With the financial backing of its title sponsor, Fast Track Capital, along with the support from the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee and Own the Podium, the Canadian Luge Association safely recruits and develops the nation_s current and future high-performance luge athletes with the goal of regularly climbing onto the international podium. 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 and Canadian Results:
1. Felix Loch, GER, 1:50.72; 2. Armin Zoggeler, ITA, 1:50.86; 3. Albert Demchenko, RUS, 1:50.91; 4. Jan-Armin Eichorn, GER, 1:51.13; 5. David Mair, ITA, 1:51.271
Other Canadian Results:
11. Jeff Christie, Calgary, 1:51.671; 20. Sam Edney, Calgary, 1:52.219; 22. Brendan Hauptman, Kimberly, B.C., 1:52.409