Caitlin Nash and Natalie Corless made history in 2019 as the first all-female luge doubles team to compete in a World Cup race.
Sliding on their home track in Whistler, B.C., they finished in 22nd place, almost three seconds behind the race winners, two men from Germany. The only team to finish behind the Canadians, two men from Italy, were eighth down the hill in the first run but didn’t finish their second.
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Doubles luge has always been open to both genders, but few women ever gave it a go. Nash and Corless were both just 16 years old back then, and clearly in over their heads against veteran competitors.
Next weekend, the Whistler kids are back on their home track looking for a much better result. They’re one of two Canadian entries in women’s doubles, an event that for the first time has been granted full World Cup status. The other Canadian crew features the Calgary duo of Kailey Allan and Brooke Apshkrum.
Women’s doubles offers the most immediate hope for a rebuilding, eight-member Canadian national luge team. While high performance director Sam Edney sees the potential for top-12s and perhaps top-eights from some other athletes, he thinks women’s doubles can deliver top-fives. And why not? There are just 10 women’s teams entered in the Whistler World Cup.
“It’s a new look team for sure. That captures it,” said Edney. “We’ve got some familiar faces who were breaking into the scene a couple of years ago but essentially it’s a young, hungry team, a new generation of athletes. I would say from my standpoint, a generation that has seen some of the past successes of our team. For some of them it will be their first season on the World Cup tour, a few of them have had a couple of races under their belt, but it’s really a group that I think sees what’s possible and is looking to achieve those results.”
Edney is a former slider who was there for Canada’s Olympic heyday at PyeongChang 2018. The relay team comprised of Edney, women’s singles slider Alex Gough and the doubles team of Tristan Walker and Justin Snith won a silver medal. Gough also took bronze in women’s singles. It was sweet redemption for all of them, coming four years after Sochi 2014 where the relay team, Gough and the doubles team all finished fourth in their events. Neither Gough nor Edney were around to compete at Beijing 2022, where Walker and Snith were seventh in their Olympic finale, and the relay team was sixth.
The retirements of all the main Canadian stalwarts and the departure of long-time head coach Wolfgang Staudinger opened the door for a complete rebuild after Beijing 2022. Luge Canada hired Robert Fegg, who had most recently been head coach of the United States luge team, but had also been with the Canadian program in the early 2000s. Former American slider Duncan Kennedy, who heads the sled technology program, joined Luge Canada in 2020.
“It’s a new age, a new look, a new think on how we’re going to slide toward the podium,” said Edney. “The biggest thing is a new culture. The team environment is supportive and strong. We’re not only promoting athlete wellness, at the same time we are creating space for them to succeed and trying to get them the equipment and program they need to succeed.”
The rest of the new-look Canadian team includes Calgarians Carolyn Maxwell, Devin Wardrope and Cole Zajanski, as well as Trinity Ellis of Pemberton, B.C.
They are all sitting out the first World Cup of the season in Austria this weekend and will launch the new Olympic quadrennial in Whistler.Such is the reality of doing business on a limited budget. The Canadians had already spent 10 days in Europe in the fall, training on tracks in Sigulda, Latvia and Lillehammer, Norway. The continued closure of the sliding track at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary has forced them to seek out other options, and it’s pricey.
“And it’s no secret we’re short of money,” Edney said.
The team will soon experience another drawback from the Calgary shutdown.
“We had a city of a million and a bit to draw from consistently for athletes,” said Edney, “but the well is starting to dry up. We’ve got the last few athletes on the team who would have grown up on the track in Calgary. All development will come through Whistler now.”
dbarnes@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/sportsdanbarnes
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