Mentally stronger Susko aiming to have ‘fun’ in hometown Whistler

Whistler (FIL/03 Feb 2025) Where comes uncertainty comes doubt but with uncertainty also comes excitement.

The average age of Luge Canada’s current 14 athlete roster across all teams is just 20.43 with 24 year old Carolyn Maxwell being the eldest.

It is a team packed with talent, potential and if junior results are to go by anything, then a truly special array of lugers could be seen in the next decade, none more so than Embyr-Lee Susko.

Hailing from Whistler, Susko turned 19 in the summer after competing in her first full season on the senior luge international circuit, competing in four World Cups, an America-Pacific Championship and the World Championships in Altenberg.

This follows her dominance on the luge scene in Canada where she won the national championships 12 times through the age groups and won her first of three consecutive senior Canadian championships in 2022 as a 16 year old.

“I don't know honestly,” said Susko when asked about her sharp trajectory in the sport. “I've been sliding since I was six years old, so I'm finally building that skill or those skills I know of learning to relax and be comfortable on the sled.

“It has been really groundbreaking for me, but I don't know. I work hard, train hard every day. I don't know.

“I'm sure everyone else does, so it's a bit of a mystery to me as well how I'm finding success, but it's passion, I think.”

Susko’s exposure at the top level has provided invaluable experience that many athletes may not get at all until they’re over 23.

The America-Pacific women’s singles and doubles bronze medallist tasted senior level for the first time in the 2022/23 season competing in a World Cup in Altenberg finishing 17th with a time of 1:47.356, her only senior race of the season.

“I think it was all the people there, it really kind of brought to life that other people care about my sport because it's such a niche sport.

“All the cameras, everything, that whole race was just crazy. I just wanted to qualify, make it down for two runs and I ended up with two really clean runs.

“The whole experience was incredible.”

The East German city was also home to Susko’s debut World Championships in January where she truly announced herself on the international stage as a serious prospect.

She finished 16th out of the 38 women’s singles lugers competing, therefore in the top half, and was the sixth fastest athlete under 23.

Accomplishing all these impressive times and results have boosted Susko’s confidence and comfortability on the sled no doubt, but under the intensified pressure she self-admittedly has “cracked under pressure”.

But now the 19 year old has been making sure no hiccups will happen again due to her mental state in competitions.

“I've worked with quite a few different sports psychologists and mental performance coaches, trying different techniques,” she said on how she’s trying to improve her psychology. “I find different breath work techniques have been really helpful for me, especially in such a high adrenaline sport, being able to keep your brain zen and calm in the right zone has been super crucial to finding success I find in a race situation.”

It will be difficult to imagine that keeping calm at Whistler for the upcoming World Championships will be hard for any of the Canadian team let alone Susko who was brought up in the city.

The Whistler Sliding Center has been a regular stop on the Luge World Cup since the 2010 Olympics. The last time the World Championships were held in British Columbia was in 2013. The absence of the most important competition in the season calendar in non-Olympic winters will surely make it a loud and proud affair.

Susko though isn’t worried about outdoing herself at home but enjoying the moment.

“In Whistler I've had thousands of runs from the ladies start, so I feel confident that I will be able to remain calm and just put down two relaxed runs and have fun with it instead of really trying to tweak the lines because I can't make it down the track like I was working out in Germany (Altenberg).

“Results are one thing, but having fun… It's not a good experience if you're not having fun doing the sport that you put all this effort in.”

This “fun” feeling Susko speaks of brings back to the reason she began the sport, after going down a track at the Whistler Sliding Centre on a scouts trip enjoying its likeness to a frozen water slide.

There is a case of athletes sometimes being too comfortable for their own good, acting as a blocker to pivotal development.

But Susko is arguably one of the world’s greatest prospects in luge and with the mental coaching now also behind her, is loving her progression into a senior pro.

If finishing in the top half of a World Championships is fun for Susko, then it makes fans wonder what she could be capable of when she does get serious.