Canadian Luge Athletes Slide to Fourth in World Cup Relay

LILLEHAMMER, Nor.–Canada’s luge relay squad found themselves in a familiar, yet all too uncomfortable position, when they finished fourth at the World Cup in Lillehammer, Norway on Sunday.

The Canadians including, Alex Gough, Sam Edney, Justin Snith and Tristan Walker, clocked a time of 2:38.127 to end up in the difficult position of finishing off the podium.

The relay is a one-run bomb race consisting of one women’s, one men’s and one doubles sled. Athletes hit a pad hanging over the track after crossing the finish line, which opens the start gate for the next team member.

The Canadians were medal favourites in the relay when the event made its debut at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games – but finished in the thankless position of fourth in Sochi. Outside of a bronze-medal finish in Konigssee this year, the Canucks have finished just off the podium a trio of times.

“The teams are now looking at this as a big race because they saw Olympic medals handed out last year,” said Edney. “We know we are a team that can be on the podium each week and we don’t want to be on the outside looking in anymore. We have to get back in the mindset that we aren’t just happy with a podium, but we want to be right on the Germans butts each week and chasing them.”

The Germans won their fifth relay of the year with a time of 2:37.349. Russia was second at 2:37.356, while Austria snagged the bronze medal with a time of 2:37.655.

Earlier in the day, Edney was back had a difficult showing in the men’s singles race where he slide to 19th spot at 1:40.170 on the 1994 Olympic Track in Lillehammer.

Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl won his first gold of the year with a time of 1:38.818. Semen Pavlichenko, of Russia, clocked a silver-medal time of 1:38.872. Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller slid onto the bronze medal step of the podium with a time of 1:38.964.

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 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.

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