Canadian Luge Squad Wins Bronze in World Championship Team Relay
WHISTLER, B.C.—A new generation of Canadian luge athletes officially arrived on the international race scene while taking the bronze medal in the World Championship team relay at the Whistler Sliding Centre.
“I think we are here. We showed up today and that is truly insane,” said hometown girl Embyr-Lee Susko.
Susko was first out of the gate for the youngest four-sled team in the relay field on Saturday.
Susko and fellow 19-year-old, Theo Downey (Calgary), took on the singles sled legs. Calgary’s Devin Wardrope and Cole Zajanski bolted down the track on the men’s doubles sled while the rookie women’s tandem of Beattie Podulsky and Kailey Allan from the Stampede City joined their Canadian mates in standing on the World Championship podium for the first time in their sliding careers, shocking the world by taking the bronze medal.
“Before the race, we were aiming for the extended podium of top six but to land on the real podium is crazy. I can’t believe we won a World Championship medal on home ice,” laughed Susko, who fed off a career-best fourth-place finish in Friday’s women’s singles race.
The relay is a one-run bomb race that starts with one women’s sled, followed by one men’s doubles, a men’s singles sled before the women’s doubles bring it home. Athletes hit a paddle that hangs over the track past the finish line to clear the track for the next slider at the top with the clock still running.
The Canadians rocketed down the 10-corner icy chute in a combined time of 2:51.641.
“Coming off the singles race (earlier in the day) I was a bit cheesed about my results, but then to come into the relay and get that first medal feels amazing,” said Downey, who was 22nd in men’s singles. “I can’t believe it. I have thousands of runs on this track from the ladies start so I was able to cool the nerves and lock in.”
Cold weather and hard ice played havoc for the world’s best feet-first tobogganers.
The Germans hung on to take the World Championship title with a time of 2:50.361. Austria edged out the Canucks for second at 2:50.492.
It was just the fifth World Championship team relay medal in Canadian history.
Canada’s Alex Gough, Sam Edney, Mitch Malyk, Tristan Walker and Justin Snith joined forces to capture the other four. Gough, Edney, Walker and Snith slid to a historic silver medal at the 2018 Olympics in the action-packed race discipline. Each of the four athletes are now committed to giving back to the sport, supporting this new generation of Canadian sliders all under the age of 23. Gough is president of Luge Canada. Edney is the team’s high-performance director while Walker and Snith lend guidance and coaching as needed.
“To see Sam, Alex and Tristan here at the track and celebrate this with us tonight is pretty awesome,” beamed Susko. “Nobody in Canada has been on the team relay podium since them. It’s incredible to be able to do this with them here, at home, in front of our friends and family.”
“It feels like the torch has been (officially) handed off this week,” added Downey. “Luge Canada is undergoing a big transition period right now and I think this is an important moment for us and where we now start showing up. We are only getting faster from here.”
It was the first time the World Championship relay has included a women’s doubles sled. Canada’s newest women’s doubles project of Beattie Podulsky and Kailey Allan is already starting to pay off. The Calgary duo paired up this fall with the goal of Canada fielding a relay team at the World Championships and Olympics.
“It was amazing. We had a little trouble out of corner 16 again, but I was so happy we were able to recover and hit the pad. To be on the podium in our first World Championships is just awesome,” said Podulsky.
The two colourful Canucks spent the bulk of their time this season training at the Whistler Sliding Centre, mastering their lines and building chemistry in their progression on the doubles sled. They put their training to the test for two World Cup races in January before finishing eighth in the women’s doubles race Friday night, which also solidified them the bronze in the Under-23 standings.
“It is incredible. I’m literally at a loss for words right now. We love racing with this team. Devin (Wardrope) and Cole (Zajanski) have helped us so much with learning to slide doubles. Everyone did their part and it all just came together for us today,” said Allan.
The Canadians will now slide into a training block before returning to the Whistler Sliding Centre in March to cap off the pre-Olympic season with the National Championships.
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.