Canadian Luge Athletes Finish Fifth in Team Relay at World Cup in Germany

KONIGSSEE, Ger.—Canada’s luge athletes were not able to capitalize on a disqualification by the powerful German team, and finished just off of the podium in a World Cup team relay on Sunday in Konigssee, Germany.

The Calgary-based sliders including Alex Gough, Mitch Malyk, Tristan Walker and Justin Snith, combined to post a fifth-place time of 2:43.629.

“These races are all about testing, and preparing for the big one. We took a bit of a gamble today and things didn’t work out as planned, but we learned a lot from this race to help us in the future,” said Wolfgang Staudinger, head coach, Canadian Luge Team. “The relay now is extremely competitive and there is no margin for error. We are in the mix and have the potential and that is the most important thing at this point in the game.”

Rebounding from a sixth-place finish in Saturday’s women’s singles race, Gough clocked the second fastest time against the world’s best women in her one run. The Canadians dropped off the podium into fourth following Malyk’s run. Once Malyk smashed the pad hanging over the finish line, the doubles team of Walker and Snith posted the quickest start reaction, but were not able to make any more time up down the track.

With the Germans disqualified for an early start, it was the Italians finishing on top of the podium with a time of 2:43.233. The American squad celebrated the silver medal at 2:43.434, while the Austrians rounded out the podium in third at 2:43.595.

The relay begins with a women’s sled, men’s singles sled followed by a doubles sled. Athletes hit a paddle that hangs over the finish line of the track to open the gate for the next competitor. Each athlete takes one run.

Earlier in the day Canada’s Malyk finished 21st in the men’s singles race with a time of 1:39.957. Sam Edney, also of Calgary, was 23rd at 1:40.001.

Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl won the men’s race with a time of 1:39.035.

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 Relay Results: http://www.fil-luge.org/cdn/uploads/rlrelay-12.pdf

Complete Men’s Results: http://bit.ly/2EfTNZp