Canadian Teenagers Caitlin Nash and Natalie Corless Win Historic World Cup Bronze in Women’s Doubles Luge

PARK CITY, UTAH—Caitlin Nash ad Natalie Corless slid into the history books as the first Canadians ever to slide onto the Eberspächer World Cup women’s doubles luge podium in Park City, Utah on Friday afternoon.

The youngest athletes in the field stormed from behind to capture the bronze medal with a two-run time of 1:28.955.

“I am not only a bit surprised, I am shocked,” laughed Nash. “We just wanted to lay down two consistent runs today and walk away being happy with our performance. We are so happy to leave with a medal.”

Sitting way back in sixth spot after a disappointing first run, the 19-year-old best friends from Whistler, B.C. rocketed onto the podium after posting the second-fastest down time in the final run on a chilly afternoon at the 2002 Olympic Track near Salt Lake City.

“This just feels crazy,” beamed Corless, who represented Canada in women’s singles at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. “We just told ourselves ‘this is luge. We do this every day and that we were going to let go of the result and just send it in the second run and focus on sliding.”

The comeback was reminiscent of the Canadian speedsters historic silver-medal triumph at the Youth Olympic Games in 2020 when they battled back from fourth place at the midway point.

“Natalie and I are the queens of the speedy second run,” laughed Nash. “Our mentality is that we both just decided to leave it all on the track, focus on our sliding and walk away proud of our a performance.”

The Canucks shared the podium with Italy’s Andrea Votter and Marion Oberhofer who won the gold medal with a time of 1:28.302. Germany’s Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal claimed the silver at 1:28.905.

It was a meaningful medal for the Canadian teens who have been trailblazers for the growth of women’s doubles luge. They won the gold medal on the Park City track in 2018 in their first-ever women’s doubles luge race when it was being piloted in the youth ranks.

“Park City is a very special place for us,” said Corless. “The track holds a lot of meaning to us, winning that first youth women’s doubles race, but to be able to come back here and do it at another level, the highest level, is crazy. We are so proud and happy.”

Nash and Corless join a growing list of Canadian luge athletes to medal on the World Cup including Alex Gough, Sam Edney, Tristan Walker and Justin Snith, Kim McRae, Arianne Jones, Regan Lauscher, Tyler Seitz and Marie Claude Doyon.

They are the first to do it on a women’s doubles sled – a new discipline on the World Cup this year that will make its Olympic debut in 2026.

Nash and Corless are no strangers to racing doubles. They were 16 years old when they made history competing in a Eberspächer Luge World Cup doubles race against the men at the Whistler Sliding Centre in 2019. Later that year, they won the silver when the women’s doubles discipline debuted at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games.  They jumped back on the doubles sled to compete for the first time against the women on the World Cup one week ago at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

“This is another steppingstone in our career,” said Nash. “We are young, but we have accomplished a lot in women’s doubles. It is exciting to know we have been trailblazers in the sport, that we have played a small part in developing women’s luge and getting it onto the World Cup, so to win our first medal so early in our career means a lot.”

“Caitlin and I have been at the forefront of women’s doubles, and every single day we are developing with the sport,” said Corless. “We are developing our abilities doing singles and doubles which can be a lot to handle, but overall, we are getting experience every day.”

The Eberspächer Luge World Cup continues on Saturday in Park City with the women’s singles races.

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.