As Germany reasserted its dominance in luge at the Viessmann World Cup, at Canada Olympic Park on Dec. 18-19, the Canadian athletes, including Cochrane’s Tristan Walker and Calgary’s Justin Snith were shut out of the podium.
The two-time Olympians and two-time World Cup bronze medalists doubles team finished fifth in their category with a total time of 1:29.034, and eighth in the BMW Sprint World Cup with a finish of 36.726.
“We didn’t do too badly,” Walker said after his team’s final run.
“We were hoping for a little bit better result for sure, but fifth was pretty good considering the runs we had.”
How were track conditions over the course of the weekend?
“It was a little warmer on Saturday, so we went with a little less conservative setup,” Walker said
“The warmer the ice, the more your steel sinks into it so we don’t need as much edge. I guess it wasn’t enough since we lost time all the way down the track.”
Going into the rest of the season, what are some of the issues Walker feels that he and his partner need to improve on?
“I think things we constantly work on like starts and positions on the sled are going to be crucial and a big help for us once we get them nailed down,” he said. “Hopefully we can get a little more slippery through the air, that would make a big difference.”
During the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games, they missed out on the podium by 0.05 of a second, and won bronze at a World Cup event in Germany a month before, but their recent form has been a bit of disappointment.
Their results at a couple recent World Cup events in the United States weren’t the best as they finished 14th at Lake Placid (Dec.3-5) with a time of 1:29.104, and 15th at Park City (Dec.10-12) with a total time of 1:28.710.
“We recently had two races down in the States at a World Cup event in Park City, which were not great for us,” Walker said.
“We made a couple of small mistakes that turned into big problems.
“They ended up putting us farther back than where we would normally place. finished 14th and 15th on those races, which with the standards we set for ourselves in not acceptable at all.”
Walker and Snith now go into the Christmas break knowing that things can only improve.
“We’re leaving right after New Years to race in Sigulda, Latvia, at the World Cup,” Walker said.
“The entire second-half of the season is World Cups and World Championships, so we’re going to be super busy.”
