Junior Canucks Slide to Fifth at Luge World Championships in Park City

 PARK CITY, U.S.A.—Canada’s junior luge athletes joined forces to finish fifth in the team relay at the Luge World Championships in Park City, Utah on Wednesday.

The steady three-sled squad from Calgary led by Laura Glover, Mitchel Malyk and doubles tandem of Justin Tobin and Taylor Donegan narrowly missed the podium with a fifth-place time of 2:21.327.

“The relay really brought us together as a team,” said 19-year-old Taylor Donegan. “Everybody felt a lot of national pride and we’re looking forward to pushing for the podium in the next team event.”

The team competition, which is a one-run bomb race, consists of one female sled, one male sled and one doubles team sled, who each complete one run for a combined final time. Athletes hit a pad at the finish, which in turn opens the gate at the start for the next team member.

Italy captured the gold in the team event with a time of 2:20.829. Germany slid to the silver at 2:20.920, while the home team from the United States grabbed the bronze after clocking-in at 2:21.136.

Earlier in the day, Canada's Donegan hopped on a sled with Justin Tobin to post a personal-best seventh-place finish in doubles at the premiere international junior luge event. The two teenage Canucks punched the clock at 1:29.327.

“It was great to be able to post our best result at the Junior Worlds when it mattered the most,” added Donegan. “We’re looking forward to pushing for even better finishes throughout the rest of the season.”

Germany’s Tim Brendel and Florian Funk set the time to beat at 1:28.715. Julius Loefller and Florian Kuechler, also of Germany, were second at 1:28.716. Tyler Anderson and Anthony Espinoza, of the United States rounded out the doubles podium in third with a time of 1:28.742.

With the Junior Luge World Championships now in the books, the next generation of Olympians will now head to Calgary for a World Cup race January 24-25, 2013.

The Canadian Luge Association is a not-for-profit organization 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: http://www.usaluge.org/live/liveevent2.php?event=87