Rebuilding Canadian luge team preaching patience ahead of world championships in Whistler, B.C.

Yahoo

04-02-2025

There would be plenty of reason for the Canadian luge team to be feeling the heat right now.
The world championships begin Thursday at home in Whistler, B.C., — a day that just so happens to also mark one year out from the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
Yet the prevailing sense around the young squad is patience.
"We want to be up there competing in those top-eight positions on a weekly basis. And are we there yet? No. But are we slowly making our steps to be there? That's what we're doing," said high-performance director Sam Edney, a four-time Olympian and silver medallist.
Ultimately, Edney and Luge Canada are planning around potential podium appearances in 2030. The team as currently constructed is full of potential, but it lacks the experience of its competitors.
Edney said there are certain benchmarks he's hoping his athletes hit in Whistler — including a top-10 or two among the women's sleds, and a top-eight in men's doubles.
Coverage of the competition begins Thursday at 1:30 p.m. ET and runs through Saturday on CBCSports.ca, CBC Gem and CBC-TV.
WATCH | Canadian luger Caitlin Nash reflects on career, teammates:
"If we hit those markers, then I think we're really feeling good about where we are going into that next [quadrennial]," Edney said. "I guess we're down to 12 months now, which is really the shocking thing. So there's a lot of work to be done this summer. And that's sort of kicking off [this] week with a big race at home for us."
Canada's 10-person team for Whistler includes just one Olympian in Trinity Ellis, who placed 14th in the women's competition in Beijing.
Ellis rooms in Calgary with teammates Caitlin Nash, 21, and Embyr-lee Susko, 19. Nash watched four years ago as Ellis and the now-retired Natalie Corless qualified for Beijing while she narrowly missed out.
"That's been a lifelong goal, seriously, is going to the Olympics," Nash said. "And I feel like, I don't know, there's a lot of hope. And there's a lot of work to be done still, but I'm excited for that work."
Nash currently sits 21st in the season-long women's World Cup standings, while Ellis is 22nd. Susko only moved to the senior circuit in the new year after spending the first half of the year competing on the junior side.
"I think the more that she has that exposure with the world-class team races, then she's gonna be a force to be reckoned with," Edney said of Susko.
Season has been 'tough'
Still, Edney admitted the season has been "tough" as far as on-ice results are concerned.
"We've got a young team, and I think that's the reality is we're constantly reminding ourselves of that. And that's something that we as a group, myself and the coaching staff, are connecting continually on," Edney said.
"We're seeing some good results. And then when we remind ourselves of the age of the athletes that we're talking about, those results do look a bit better."
At 22, Ellis has suddenly become the trusted veteran.
"She's slowly becoming the quiet leader of the group, just really with some of the attitude she carries, the experience she brings into a weekly race, into a home race," Edney said.
But there are some factors working in Canada's favour over the next year-plus as it forges toward its first Olympic podium appearances in the sport since Alex Gough bagged singles bronze and Edney was part of the team-relay silver at Pyeongchang 2018.
Though she's only 22, Trinity Ellis, pictured at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, is already considered a veteran on the Canadian team. (Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press)
Track knowledge can be a massive advantage in a sport that is often decided by tenths or hundredths of a second — and Ellis, Nash and Susko all learned the sport at the Whistler Sliding Centre, where they'll compete this week.
"We all know that track like the back of our hands for sure," Ellis said.
Nash added: "I feel like we probably have the most runs on that track, honestly, out of anyone ever."
Edney agreed that home-track advantage is real.
"The messaging going to the athletes right now is it's not so much the pressure's on here because it's your home — the pressure's off because it's your home. Use the run volume, use the knowledge of the track that you have to feel confident and slide really, really well," he said.
"And we know that we're not gonna step on in the podium next week, that's a reality. We know that it's a long shot for that to happen. But is it the place to have the best result of the season? Absolutely."
Canadians could surprise in Italy
Fast-forward 365 days to the Olympics, and the young Canadians may find themselves in another prime position to win a surprise medal.
The track in Cortina is currently undergoing a $90-million US renovation. The timing is so tight that the International Olympic Committee has named a backup plan in Lake Placid, N.Y. And if the Cortina track does get done on time, it'll level the playing field by making the Olympics the first time many athletes will have competed on it.
"When we go to those new tracks and that run volume number evens out a bit here, then we know that we can slide with the best of them," Edney said.
The lugers may also draw some inspiration from fellow Canadian slider Hallie Clarke, the skeleton athlete who seemingly out of nowhere holds both the senior and junior world titles.
On the men's side, no Canadians rank among the top 30 in singles, but the doubles sled sits 13th.
And so Edney tempered expectations for Whistler.
"I hope they soak it in and really just enjoy the whole time. It's going to be a good stepping stone for our athletes," he said.
"And I really hope that we can look back on the performances and celebrate those for the steps that they've made and the building blocks that it is in our '25, '26 plan, but then also looking ahead to 2030, because that's the real goal."