Alex Gough and Sam Edney of Calgary, Alberta each won two silver medals this past weekend in a World Cup Luge competition at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary. The podium finishes are key because in two months Gough and Edney will be trying to do something that no Canadian luger has ever done before, and that is to win a medal at the Olympic Winter Games.
Gough and Edney each won the silver medals in women’s and men’s individual luge respectively. They then teamed up with men’s doubles lugers Tristan Walker and Justin Snith to win the silver medal in the mixed relay luge.
In the women’s luge on Saturday, Gough posted a time of 1:33.557. Tatjana Huefner of Germany won gold with a time of 1:33.442. Natalie Geisenberger of Germany won the bronze medal with a time of 1:33.603. Huefner won the gold medal for Germany in women’s luge at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and Geisenberger won the gold medal in women’s luge at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
Gough reached the podium by 0.239 seconds over Kimberley McRae of Victoria, British Columbia, who finished in fourth place with a time of 1:33.796. Gough also moved into third place in the World Cup standings in women’s luge with 283 points. Geisenberger leads with 440 points and Huefner is in second with 400 points.
In men’s luge on Friday, Edney posted a time of 1:29.138. The reigning two-time Olympic singles luge gold medalist Felix Loch of Germany won the gold medal with a time of 1:28.752. Roman Repilov of Russia won the bronze medal with a time of 1:29.205. Edney reached the podium by 0.127 seconds over Mitchel Malyk of Calgary, who finished in fourth place with a time of 1:29.265.
In mixed relay luge on Sunday, Gough, Edney, Snith and Walker had a combined time of 2:21.187. Germany won the gold medal with a time of 2:21.146 and Austria won the bronze medal with a time of 2:21.589. Team Canada was 0.467 seconds faster than the United States, who finished fourth with a time of 2:21.654. Canada is in second place in the World Cup team relay luge standings with 230 points. Germany leads with 300 points. The silver medals for Gough, Edney, Snith and Walker will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
