The Canadian team slid to 4th place in Thursday’s inaugural team luge event in Sochi, just a tenth of a second out of medal contention. And their coach says they were robbed – potentially on purpose.
Team Canada coach Wolfgang Staudinger told the Toronto Star shortly after the race that track conditions likely affected the lugers’ performance. Teams that went later in the race were sliding much slower than those at the beginning as the track warmed up, he said.
The Star reported that he thinks the track warming may have been deliberate. The track is equipped with a cooling system, and Staudinger suggested that the cooling may have been turned down later in the race, changing the ice conditions.
The Canadian Luge Association says they stand behind their coach, but notes such comments are normal.
“That happens every week. It’s kind of being magnified because it’s the Games,” said Walter Corey, high performance director for the Canadian Luge Association.
He said Staudinger heard similar complaints about the deteriorating track conditions from other countries’ team captains.
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Still, Corey says, dealing with the ice is part of the sport. “It’s an outdoor sport. Being able to manage ice conditions is an important one.”
On Friday, the International Olympic Committee said in a press conference that Canada should “let it go,” unless they want to file a formal complaint.
Corey says Canada will not be making a formal complaint. “It wouldn’t have mattered anyhow. The race was the race,” he said.
Instead, they will push for changes to the starting order for future events.
In most luge events, Corey said, the top-ranked competitors get to start first in the event, at least on their first run, in theory getting the best ice. On their final run, the athletes with the best times start last.
This does make a slight difference in their times. For example, the gold medal-winning German pair of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt started 4th and got a time of 49.373 seconds on their first run. In their second run, where they started last, they got a time of 49.560 seconds. The silver medal-winning Austrian pair saw a similar difference in their first and second run results.
In the team event, however, there’s only one run and the best countries went last. Corey would like this to change.
“In the other three disciplines, we feel like it was handled quite well. Just in this one, it wasn’t the best way, considering it was the first time the event was at the Games. We look forward to proposing that rule change at the next possibility.”
Of course, the German team also went late in the competition, right before Canada. And they won gold. The other medallists, Russia and Latvia, started 7th and 6th, respectively. And the teams who started first, South Korea and Ukraine, finished at the bottom of the standings.
Although Corey admits this, he still thinks that starting earlier might have helped Canada’s chances. “It would have been optimum conditions,” he said.
“We’re just proposing that they keep things consistent. That’s all. You know, if we do it in the other three disciplines, let’s do it in the fourth as well.”
Canada’s three 4th-place finishes and one 5th-place in all the luge events comprise its best Olympic luge result to date. But the athletes have mixed emotions.
“When you’re finishing fourth, you happen to be there when the flower ceremony’s done and it’s sinking in that that very easily could have been you. It’s difficult for any athlete to take,” Corey said.
“I don’t think there are words for how much it sucks,” said Alex Gough, who finished 4th in both the women’s individual event and as part of the team luge event.
With files from the Canadian Press
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