Second generation of YOG competitors on course for success

Oberhof (RWH) Just like their predecessors, the second generation of Youth Olympic Games competitors is on course for success. Gold medallist Brooke Apshkrum has already been called up to the Canadian Olympic team for PyeongChang 2018. Her compatriot Reid Watts, bronze medallist at the 2016 YOG, has also been selected. Youth Olympic Champion Kristers Aparjods is set to be officially selected by Latvia’s National Olympic Committee.

The Italian duo of Felix Schwarz/Luke Gufler, 2012 winners of the doubles event, are competing in the Junior World Cup. The two Italians Ivan Nagler and Fabian Malleier went solo in Lillehammer, finishing seventh and fifth respectively. The two lugers are now a duo in the Viessmann World Cup and have claimed one sixth place finish (Altenberg) and a seventh (Königssee), and now have their sights set on a ticket to the Olympics.

Jessica Tiebel, who won silver in Lillehammer, may not have a chance to win an Olympic nomination in Germany, but she finished an impressive third on the her Viessmann World Cup debut in Königssee. Instead of PyeongChang, her season goal is to defend her Junior World Championship title in Altenberg, with an eye to competing at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing .

The first generation of YOG lugers was extremely successful. 13 participants in the inaugural YOG in Innsbruck 2012 went on to compete in the Olympic Games in the Russian city of Sochi two years later. They included successful World Cup lugers such as Summer Britcher (USA), the Italians Sandra Robatscher and Andrea Vötter, and Miriam Kastlunger (AUT), who won gold in 2012. All are now firmly established in their national teams.