Canada’s lugers double up on silver medals at World Cup in Calgary

“I knew I had the potential to be right up there with Natalie and Tatjana.” (Photo: Alex Gough Luge/Facebook)

CALGARY— Alex Gough’s fist shot into the air after she crossed the finish line of Calgary’s sliding track.

Canada’s most decorated luger earned her first World Cup medal in women’s singles this season with a silver Saturday at Canada Olympic Park.

The 30-year-old Calgarian was second to reigning world champion Tatjana Huefner of Germany. Olympic champion Natalie Geisenberger of Germany was third.

“I’ve been close a couple of times this year already,” Gough said. “I knew I had the potential to be right up there with Natalie and Tatjana.

“It feels great to do it here and especially at home. You can see in the stands my family just took over.”

Gough now owns a career 26 World Cup medals in women’s singles. She raced the lead-off leg for the Canadian relay team that also earned silver Saturday.

Along with Sam Edney’s silver in men’s singles Friday, a three-medal performance on their home track gave Canada’s lugers a shot of confidence after a sluggish start to their season.

Calgary’s Mitch Malyk and Victoria’s Kim McRae were fourth in men’s and women’s singles respectively.

The Calgary doubles team of Tristan Walker and Justin Snith raced the anchor leg of the relay after placing sixth the previous day.

The Canadians had returned to Calgary with a lone relay silver from the first three World Cups in Europe. Gough had twice finished fourth in women’s singles.

With February’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, coming over the horizon, the lugers looked for a jumpstart at home and got it.

“It was vital for us. I think if it had gone the other way, it would have really just damaged us,” Edney said.

“We expected to do well and to deliver just feels like we can walk away with our heads high knowing we’re in a good spot.”

The Canadians competed in a relay on their home track for the first time. The relay, which made its Olympic debut in 2014, isn’t on the program at every World Cup.

The relay is one run of women’s singles, men’s singles and doubles in that order with the combined times determining the winner.

The wrinkle is the lugers have to hit a pad at the bottom of the track to both stop their clock and open the gates for their teammates at the top of the track.

Missing the pad means disqualification, which is what happened to South Korea on Saturday.

“Historically, we always have done well in the team relays over the past eight years,” Canadian head coach Wolfgang Staudinger said.

“If they put three consistent runs down then they are definitely in the mix. With consistency, we will medal.”

Germany swept all four events in Calgary with Huefner, Felix Loch and the doubles team of Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken winning the relay as well as their individual races.

Germany has a long and deep history of success in luge, as well as superior familiarity with many of the world’s sliding tracks.

Of the approximately 16 tracks in regular rotation for World Cup and world championships, four are in Germany and three others are easily accessible over the borders in Austria and Switzerland.

But the Olympic track in Pyeongchang is only a year old.

It is as unfamiliar to the Europeans as it is to the North Americans, so Olympic medals will come down to starts and driving.

Edney, who will compete in his fourth Olympic Games, won bronze in a test event in Pyeongchang last season.

“The track can be quite tricky,” Gough said. “It will be interesting to see what it’s like when we get there and who adapts.”

The Canadian team heads to the next World Cup stop Friday and Saturday in Lake Placid, N.Y.