Luge Canada

Canada Wins Gold And Silver At Junior World Cup 3

Christmas came early for Ian Cockerline (age 16) and Sam Edney (age 16) as they stood on the podium listening to 'Oh Canada' being played at the Luge Junior World Cup medal ceremony. Cockerline, a grade 11 student at the National Sports School in Calgary, won Gold in the Mens Junior I (under age 17) category and classmate, Edney won Silver. Germany's Andi Langerhan took third place.

After adding today's Gold medal to the Silver he won at the first Junior World Cup race of the season, Cockerline commented, "All week I wanted to hear our anthem - today I got my wish and a little more. Not not only was I first but Sam was second!"

Winning his first ever World Cup medal, Edney added," I'm extremely pleased with today's finish. When I found out I was in fifth place after the first run I made a goal of trying to finish on the podium. We are all very happy with the one-two finish for Canada."

Canada's Junior II (under age 20) competitors did not fare as well as their Junior I teammates with both Ryan Paton (age 19) and Jorgen Krause (age 18) crashing on one of their two runs to put them in 27th and 31st place respectively. Both Paton and Krause were very disappointed with today's results after being close to medal finishes in previous races. Winning Gold, Silver and Bronze in the Junior II category were Germany's David Moller, Jan Eichorn and Denis Bertz.

Meaghan Simister, age 14, will represent Canada in Junior I Womens competition tomorrow.

The Junior National Luge Team will be returning to Calgary from Germany on December 17th and the Senior Team will be home for the Christmas break on December 18th. The Senior Team stopped in Lake Placid, New York, for a week of training following their final pre-Christmas World Cup race last weekend in LaPlagne, France.

All Canadian athletes are from Calgary unlesss otherwise noted.

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For more information or if transmission difficulties contact:
Tim Farstad, CLA-OLTC, 403-247-9884 tfarstad@coda.ab.ca
Web site: www.luge.ca