Tristan Walker and Justin Snith Slide into Sixth for Career-Best Doubles Result at Luge World Cup in Calgary

CALGARY—Canada’s Tristan Walker and Justin Snith joined forces to post a career-best sixth-place finish in doubles racing at the Luge World Cup in Calgary on Saturday night.

Two of the youngest athletes on the elite circuit, the 20-year-old Canucks posted the sixth fastest time on their opening run at 43.993 and held their position in their final trip down the 1,100-metre track at Canada Olympic Park to clock a combined time of 1:27.924.

“We were in the top-six after the first run in the first two races this year, and then we made mistakes on our second run, so it feels good that wefinally were able to keep our spot,” said Tristan Walker, of Cochrane, Alta. “We haven’t done well on this track in the past, but it feels really good to do this at home.”

Walker and Snith finished eighth at the World Championships last year. Their previous best World Cup result came at the season-opener in Austria when they placed ninth.

“Our goal has been to be top-10 and we are now pushing ahead of that so we are where we want to be,” said Snith. “We showed we could be in the top-six in the first two World Cups on the first run, and now we’ve done two in a row. Consistency is key.”

Germany’s Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt set the time to beat at 1:27.661. Austria’s Andreas Linger and Wolfgang Linger slid to the silver medal with a time of 1:27.693, while Germany’s Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken locked up the bronze at 1:27.829.

Meanwhile, Sam Edney slid into ninth spot in men’s singles to cap off a memorable weekend of racing for the Canadians at the Luge World Cup in Calgary on Saturday night.

The 27-year-old Calgarian stumbled out of the start in his opening run, but rebounded to post a solid ninth-place time of 1:29.972 in his two tripsdown the track on a warm and breezy night at Canada Olympic Park.

“I am satisfied but I’m not thrilled,” said Edney. “I’m expecting to be in the top-eight, top-five all the time and that is pressure I’m putting on myself. It is pressure that is needed because I need to get to into that position more often. Calgary is tight racing. You can’t make a mistake and I did at the start which cost me time today.”

The two-time Olympian tried to feed off the historic win by teammateAlex Gough on Friday night in the women’s singles race, and is building momentum heading into the Christmas break after matching his career-best fifth-place result last weekend in Whistler, B.C.

“I came out of that race last night with goose bumps, and woke up this morning with those same goose bumps,” said Edney, who won the America Pacific Championships, an event being run in conjunction with the World Cup. “It was an amazing performance by Alex and our two other girls, and it motivated me today. You walk away from a race like that and you want that kind of success for yourself, but you can’t get ahead of yourself. I just wanted to put two consistent runs down today.”

Andi Langenhan was the most consistent slider under the lights on the western edge of Calgary, clocking a winning two-run time of 1:29.406 en route to leading a Germany sweep of the podium. Felix Loch finished second at 1:29.500, while David Möller slid to the bronze at 1:29.657.

The Luge World Cup continues January 5-6, 2012 in Konigssee, Germany.

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 Results:
1. Andi Langenhan, GER, 1:29.406; 2. Felix Loch, GER, 1:29.500; 3. David Möller, GER, 1:29.657; 4. Armin Zöggeler, ITA, 1:29.678; 5. Manuel Pfister, AUT, 1:29.743.
Canadian Results:
9. Sam Edney, Calgary, CAN, 1:29.972

Doubles Top-Five and Canadian Results:
1. Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt, GER, 1:27.661; 2. AndreasLinger/Wolfgang Linger, AUT, 1:27.693; 3. Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken, GER,1:27.689; 4. Ronny Pietrasik/Christian Weise, GER, 1:27.902; 5. Matthew Mortensen/Preston Griffall, USA, 1:27.919
Canadian Results:
6. Tristan Walker, Cochrane, Alta./Justin Snith, Calgary, 1:27.924