Calgary’s Alex Gough has won a bronze medal in women’s luge at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Over her four runs down the track, Gough had a combined time of 3:05.644.
Germany’s Natalie Geisenberger won the gold with a time of 3:05.232, just 0.412 seconds faster than Gough. Dajana Eitberger, also from Germany, won silver with a time of 3:05.599.
Gough had finished fourth in the last Olympics in Sochi and looked to be headed to another fourth-place finish after dropping back a spot from third on her final run down the track when Eitberger put in a solid run.
But fellow German Tatjana Huefner, who had been in second, made a mistake on her run right after Gough to push the Canadian onto the podium.
“Elated. Just so over the moon,” said Gough, who was competing at her fourth Olympics. “Especially to come that gut-wrenching feeling of being behind (Eitberger) and probably in a fourth spot again and to have that flip around on me and be suddenly in a medal spot is so amazing.”
This is Canada’s first-ever Olympic medal in luge.
Another Canadian, Kimberley McRae, came in fifth place and Brooke Apshkrum came in 13th.
Gough, men’s singles luger Sam Edney, and doubles sliders Tristan Walker and Justin Snith were also a frustrating fourth in the team relay four years ago in Russia.
The quartet was bumped up to bronze for what would have been Canada’s first-ever Olympic luge medal in December after two Russian competitors were among 40 athletes from that country stripped of their 2014 results and handed lifetime bans by the International Olympic Committee for alleged doping violations.
But citing insufficient evidence, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned that punishment for 28 of those athletes, including lugers Albert Demchenko and Tatiana Ivanova.
Fourth in the overall World Cup standings this season, Gough has won 25 career medals on the circuit. She’s also made the podium five times at the world championships, including two third-place finishes in singles (2011 and 2013).
–With files from the Canadian Press
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