Canada’s enjoys most successful day in World Cup history at Lake Placid

Whistler (RWH) The Canadian luge team heads to the Viessmann World Cup on the Olympic track in Whistler next Friday and Saturday with a full set of medals in their luggage. It is also their home event, which means they will have the weight of expectation on their shoulders. Although this is the best possible publicity for the competition on home turf, head coach Wolfgang Staudinger has warned his team that the pressure will be much greater after the success of Lake Placid.

Kimberley McRae and Alex Gough finished second and third respectively on the Mount Van Hoevenberg track to flank Germany’s Tatjana Hüfner as she set a new record of 37 singles victories. And to round off the second event of the pre-Olympic winter, the Canadian quartet of Kimberley McRae, Sam Edney, and doubles pairing Tristan Walker/Justin Snith, claimed Canada’s third success in the Viessmann Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW. Viewed over more than one season, this was actually the second victory in a row for the Canadian squad, which also won the 2015/2016 season finale in Winterberg.

“This is a great day for us,” was how Kimberley McRae described the events of 3 December 2016. For the Canadian Luge Association (CLA), it was simply the most successful day in its World Cup history. The team had previously won three medals at just one other event, the 2014 Viessmann World Cup in Calgary, when Alex Gough and Arianne Jones finished second and third, and the doubles duo of Walker/Snith took third. There have also been two Canadians on the podium before, when Alex Gough and Kimberly McRae took second and third in Altenberg in the run-up to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Canada’s lugers ultimately came home empty-handed from the Winter Games in Russia, missing out on Canada’s first luge medals with three fourth place finishes from Alex Gough, Walker/Snith, and in the team relay.

The German contingent of Tatjana Hüfner, Felix Loch and Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken head to Whistler at the top of the overall Viessmann World Cup standings. By contrast, the German relay team had to settle for seventh place and is sure to be seeking redress in the second of the season’s six relay races on Saturday.