Edney, Gough, Walker and Snith win Canadian luge championship titles

WHISTLER, B.C. — Canadians Sam Edney, Alex Gough, Tristan Walker and Justin Snith won their respective luge races at the Canadian championships on Saturday.

The 32-year-old Edney of Calgary took the crown in men’s singles, putting down the fastest run of the day (50.435 seconds) in his second trip down the Olympic track at the Whistler Sliding Centre to take the gold with a time of 1:41.050.

“Overall it’s been a great two weeks on ice,” said Edney, who returned to the national program this fall after taking a year off to attend school. “It has been validation for me that it was the right move on my part to take last year off, but also to come back and keep going to Korea. This has been a great test to see where I’m at.”

Mitchel Malyk held on for second place at 1:41.113. Reid Watts, a 17-year-old from Whistler, B.C., finished third.

Gough took top spot in the women’s national championship race for the eighth time in her career. The 29-year-old from Calgary posted the top two times en route to sliding into the winner’s circle at 1:17.828.

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“It was really nice to get back into racing mode,” said Gough. “Kim and the other girls are getting closer and giving me a good push. I’m excited to be back this year for a full season, and feel pretty good going into it.”

Kim McRae was second at 1:17.981. Rachel Klassen locked up the bronze medal at 1:18.126.

Canada’s top doubles team of Walker and Snith posted a personal best start time at 3.284 and a new track record at 38.734 in their first rip down. The fourth-place finishers at the 2014 Olympics won the gold in doubles with a combined time of 1:17.529.

“It was nice to pull a personal best start and get the track record,” said the 25-year-old Walker. “We are working on some new equipment and have a ways to go developing what we will be on this year, but it’s nice to see we can still be competitive on our old stuff.”

It was the seventh straight Canadian Championship title in doubles racing for the two-time Olympians.

British Columbia teenagers Matt Riddle and Adam Shippit were second at 1:18.876.

The World Cup season begins Nov. 26, in Winterberg, Germany.

The Canadian Press