Calgary Girls Lead Baby Canucks at Junior Luge World Champs

WINTERBERG, Ger.—Two of the nation’s most promising young luge athletes, Kyla Graham and Brooke Apshkrum, led the Canadian charge with top-10 finishes at the Junior World Championships in Winterberg, Germany over the weekend.

Calgary’s Kyla Graham had her career-best finish in sixth place after rocking a two-run time of 1:55.438 to finish as the top Canuck.

“This is my best result as a junior so I’m definitely happy,” said Graham. “I did have a few sloppy mistakes so I feel I had more in the tank. I am hungry for it and excited to excel in the future.”

Brooke Apshkrum finished on the heels of her Calgary-based teammate in seventh spot with a time of 1:55.487. The World Champs also served as Apshkrum’s final preparation for the Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway.

“I had a mediocre first run, but kept my place after the second run,” said Apshkrum. “Overall, I'm content with my result, but looking forward to improving on this in the future.”

Germany’s Julia Taubitz won the junior women’s race with a time of 1:53.897.

Two young Canadians also hit the start handles for the junior men’s race. Nicky Klimchuk-Brown took advantage of the posting the second-fastest start time on his final run to slide into 12th place at 1:47.053, while Whistler resident, Reid Watts, returned from his stint on the World Cup circuit, to place 14th at 1:47.290.

Russia’s Roman Repilov won the junior men’s race with a time of 1:45.944.

British Columbia boys, Matt Riddle and Adam Shippit, suited up for the doubles race, but did not finish.

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.

COMPLETE RESULTS: http://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/31st-fil-junior-world-championships