It wasn’t the result they were looking for, but Olympic medallists Tristan Walker, of Cochrane, and Justin Snith, of Calgary, will look to build on an 11th-place doubles finish at the Luge World Cup in Sochi, Russia on Dec. 4.

The 30-year-old veterans of the Canadian squad, who had a season’s-best eighth-place finish on the 2014 Olympic Track, rattled off their two runs in a time of 1:40.296.

“It was better sliding this week, but unfortunately, a worse result,” said Calgary’s Snith. “They took some ice out of the track, so it made it easier today. We took a very conservative approach here to make it through these two weeks. Moving forward, we know we have to push it a bit more, but at the same time, with the limited runs we have here, we knew this wasn’t the place to do that.”

The Canadians were just under one second behind Russia’s Andrei Bogdanov and Iurii Prokhorov, who set the time to beat at 1:29.351. Germany’s Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken were second at 1:39.485, while Latvia’s Andris Sics and Juris Sics stopped the clock at 1:39.530 to secure the bronze medal.

Walker and Snith are carrying the torch and guiding a new generation of Canadian luge athletes. The new-look World Cup luge team includes four women and five men.

“I see a lot of potential for everyone on the team this year,” says Walker. “Justin and I are particularly excited to have another doubles team to mentor this season. It’s full circle from our first year on the team back in 2010.”

The World Cup circuit continues this weekend in Altenberg, Germany.

from Luge Canada