Canada’s Carolyn Maxwell finishes 11th at luge World Cup in Germany

Jan 5, 2019 | 11:45 AM

KOENIGSSEE, Germany — Canadian teenager Carolyn Maxwell finished 11th at the luge World Cup on a demanding track in Konigssee, Germany on Saturday.

The 18-year-old rookie on the World Cup circuit clocked a two-run time of one minute 46.140 seconds on the highly-technical and fast 10-corner track.

“This is a very good result for such a young athlete,” said Cnada’s head coach Wolfgang Staudinger. “Carolyn is so young competing against the mothers of our sport, and she put down a top-notch performance.”

Sitting in 15th spot after her first trip down the demanding track, Maxwell climbed four spots in the standings after cleaning up her second run.

“There is no room for forgiveness on this track,” said Staudinger. “You have to be on the ball and perform. Knowing this, and seeing what Carolyn did, is really good.”

It is Maxwell’s second-best finish of her young career, and top finish outside of Canada. Before the holiday break she placed 10th on her home track in Calgary.

German’s Julia Taubitz won the women’s race with a time of 1:44.971. American, Summer Britcher, slid to the silver medal at 1:45.391, while Austria’s Hanna Prock punched the clock at 1:45.586 for the bronze.

Canada’s doubles team of Tristan Walker and Justin Snith finished 13th in the heavy snow race.

The Olympic silver medallists in the team relay broke their straps at the start of the first run, and missed the sled set up for the challenging weather conditions. The Canadians finished with a combined time of 1:43.703.

“It was some bad luck and the guys had the summer tires on the sled when we needed the winter ones today,” said Staudinger. “We slid good, but just weren’t able to react to the conditions.”

Germany’s Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken celebrated the gold medal with a time of 1:41.851. Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, also of Germany, hung on for the silver medal at 1:42.157. Austria’s Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller won the race for the bronze medal with a time of 1:42.683.

The Associated Press