A YEAR IN REVIEW
Being able to represent Canada, travelling to 9 races in 6 countries on 3 continents and travelling literally around the world in 90 days was a long incredible journey. Of course there are the ups and down to racing and travelling but the locations and stops we made along far surpass the lows.
RACE 1 — WHISTLER, BC, CANADA
Total CornersTrack LengthTop SpeedFavourite Corner
161450m~140km/h4
Whistler is my home track! Anyone can get out and try skeleton, you would go from corner 11 but you can still get up to 100km/h! Put this on your Bucket List! You can thank me later for it. The track crew is known to be some of the best in the world creating some of the smoothest and fastest ice around. Some were even sent to Pyeongchang, South Korea to help teach them their ways!
RACE 2 — LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK, USA
Total CornersTrack LengthTop SpeedFavourite Corner
19under 1455m~120km/h10 (Shady)
Hitting walls usually slows you down but in order to obtain the best entrance into corner 4, you need to take a hit along the left wall out of corner 3. Sometimes hitting a wall is faster! Bobsleigh actually races through 20 corners. It can get so cold here, last year it was down to -27°C!! It was so cold we couldn't even change out our runners between runs.
RACE 3 — ALTENBERG, GERMANY
Total CornersTrack LengthTop SpeedFavourite Corner
171413m~120km/h10 (Kreisel - 320 degree corner)
The track was built in secret in the middle of a forest and is based on the toughest corners from the tracks around the world. On race day, they always have a school day with students from all over coming out by the bus load and also an Oompa Band that always come out!
RACE 4 — WINTERBERG, GERMANY
Total CornersTrack LengthTop SpeedFavourite Corner
151330m~130km/h9
If you take the proper line through corner 9 you actually skip corner 10. The original track actually only had 14 corners, but they added one before corner 1, so on this track there is a corner 0. The weather here is so unpredictable that on all the forecasts this past year it was supposed to be sunny, but then the race time came and it was a white out with snow. This was the location back in my 2015/16 season that was my first podium finish with a 3rd place, and in 2014/15 season where I placed 4th in World Champs.
RACE 5 — ST. MORITZ-CELERINA, SWITZERLAND
Total CornersTrack LengthTop SpeedFavourite Corner
191722m~135km/hSunny
Each corner isn't numbered but has an actual name. This is the last man made track in the world. There is no refrigeration system, so when you slide on this track, all you hear is the wind. It's also almost everyone's favourite track. The start is in a different town then the finish. The scenery is amazing. Because the track is open with no roofing or shades, in my 2015/16 season I hit a stick and was granted a rerun. Since the track is built from scratch each year, every year there is a new track record and start record.
RACE 6 — KÖNIGSSEE, GERMANY
Total CornersTrack LengthTop SpeedFavourite Corner
151270m~110km/hS curves
Each corner has a name and isn't numbered. The men's luge actually starts higher then bobsleigh and skeleton. Each nations calls the chicane something different, the Canadians call them the doodles. At the base of the track, Lake Königssee, is the clearest lake in Germany and this past winter is the first time in 10 years that it froze over. There is a ton of history here, from the track you can look up to the mountain and see Hitler's Eagles Nest, or you can go explore an old salt mine.
RACE 7 — IGLS, AUSTRIA
Total CornersTrack LengthTop SpeedFavourite Corner
141270m~120km/h10
The outrun in Igls curves to the left so it sounds like everyone is horrendously crashing when they're trying to stop. In Feb. of 2015 I hit a broom which ended up going viral where I was in TSN's worst plays of the month and later the year, I was bashed on BarDown and made news around the world. The track is on the mountain side that overlooks the valley that Innsbruck is in. This is known as one of the easiest tracks in the world to get down, but one of the trickiest to get down fast.
RACE 8 — PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA
Total CornersTrack LengthTop SpeedFavourite Corner
162018m~120km/h2
This is the 2018 Olympic Track. There has only been one race here so far, where we had a couple training weeks before hand where everyone was on the same playing field in that no one had more runs then the other. The facility is brand new, and is gorgeous. It's on top of a hill that over looks ski resorts with amazing views of the mountains. We also got to go see what the Athletes Village will be like, and while there, got to meet Thomas Bach, the President of the IOC.
We missed our connecting flight to Pyeongchang so we were stuck in Beijing for a day. This was one of the best days we had on tour by far! We went into town and got to see Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden Garden and got to explore a night market! Even though we were here for only a few hours, I would love to be able to come back and explore some more.
This year we got to go to many places, some new some old. It's incredible to see the cultures and history at each location. Regardless of where we go, maintaining and keeping my body fit and in top shape is important to keep me going where I want to go. If that means doing workouts in an underground parkade, then that means working out in underground parkades.
So moving into the summer, I'll be working as hard as I can to get closer to my goal of competing for gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games.