Wardrope and Zajanski: Canada's next-generation doubles team could make history in Whistler

Whistler (FIL/29 Jan 2025) For 13 years, Tristan Walker and Justin Snith were the Canadian hopefuls in the Men's Doubles. The duo was part of the legendary Team Canada, which won the silver medal at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics.

For most of their competitive careers, the two were their country's only representatives in this discipline at the World Cup and FIL Championships.

Since their debut as 18-year-olds in 2009, Walker and Snith competed in four Olympic Games, finishing fourth at their second appearance in Sochi in 2014, Canada's best Olympic result in the doubles. The two athletes were on the World Cup tour for twelve consecutive seasons and competed in seven FIL World Championships.

Although they are widely regarded as Canada's most successful doubles team, Walker and Snith have no Olympic or World Championship medals in the senior doubles. They had their greatest successes in the team relay.

They became U23 World Champions in Whistler in 2013, and 12 years later, the next generation of the Canadian Men's doubles, Devin Wardrope and Cole Zajanski, hopes to repeat or exceed this feat at the 53rd FIL World Championships in 2025, which will also be held in Whistler.

“Last year we built a brand new sled and we couldn't get it set up right the whole season,” said Zajanski, who competed in the doubles because he was too light in the singles. ”But even last year we managed 12th place (at the World Cup in Whistler), which gives us confidence.

“If we can achieve good, consistent driving dynamics with this sled, then we can probably, hopefully, at least make it onto the podium in the U23 class.”

Two seasons ago, 22-year-old Wardrope and 21-year-old Zajanski were so close to achieving their first World Cup podium in Whistler. They only just missed out by two hundredths of a second with a time of 1:16.763 and a speed of 133.13 km/h, ultimately finishing in fourth place.

With a better understanding of their new sled and more knowledge of the track, Wardrope is now fully aware of what they need to do to give themselves the best possible chance from February 6-8.

“One of the main things we wanted to work on for the 2022-23 season was our start, because I think we started the race in 10th or 11th place and then finished in 4th place, just two hundredths of a second off the podium.

“If we could have improved that start there, hopefully we would have made it onto the podium. We have definitely been working on that for the last two years and made progress last year.”

Similar to their predecessors, Canada's hopes in the doubles lie with Wardrope and Zajanski, who both started luge after coming across signs promoting the sport at WinSport Canada Olympic Park in Calgary.

The two from Calgary typify the fresh, youthful and exciting look of the entire Canadian team, with Woman's Singles luger Carolyn Maxwell being the only athlete over the age of 25.

That's why the mentorship of Tristan Walker and Justin Snith means so much to these two, who call each other at least once a month during the season to check in on their successors and share valuable information from their extensive respective careers.

“Tristan is up in the Yukon and Justin is a few hours away, so we usually don't get to spend too much time together. But when we go down a track that we're not comfortable with, and they've done a great job of getting up to speed on most of the tracks in the past, we'll have them give us an update over a Zoom call, which lasts an hour or two,” Zajanski reveals.

“We then move on to the point where we say, “This is the problem we have,” and in most cases they give us a pretty solid answer because they've been living and racing doubles for almost as long as I've been alive, so they have a lot of tips and tricks,” says the backdriver of the up-and-coming Canadian doubles team.

Due to their many training runs in Whistler, however, the America-Pacific champions will need far fewer “tips and tricks” for the World Championships on their home track, since they moved there permanently for their home training after the closure of the track in Calgary.

At the World Championships, they will be among the few who know the track better than any other active doubles on the international circuit.

“There are some tricky sections, I think from the doubles start a lot of teams have trouble in sections 9, 10 and 11, where it is relatively slow, but there is a lot to be done to make sure you don't lose speed there,” Wardrope explained the difficulties of Whistler. “You also have to be careful to accelerate there. I would say transitions 13, 14, 15 are all pretty fast and definitely prone to mistakes, so you should pay particular attention there.

“I think if we can get that right, we will be in a really good position,” he added.

Competing in the major luge events at such a young age and with the guidance of Walker and Snith, Wardrope and Zajanski are ideally placed to succeed in the coming seasons.

Although they may not yet be where they want to be physically – Wardrope, in particular, has revealed that he wants to increase his weight from 83 to 87 kilograms for the future – Whistler offers a breathtaking opportunity to make history as the first Canadian Men's doubles team to reach the podium and stand on the podium in front of their own fans at a World Championship.

It's a tough challenge considering the results of their European rivals in recent years, but with youth comes fearlessness, and there isn't much left on the Whistler track that Wardrope and Zajanski don't already know.

They won't be favorites for a medal, but if they improve at the start, the element of surprise could work in their favor on February 7, 2025, the crucial race day.