Canadians Nash, Corless earn Canada’s first medal at Youth Olympics in luge

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — Caitlin Nash and Natalie Corless won silver in women’s doubles luge at the Youth Olympic Games on Saturday, giving Canada its first medal at the event.

The Whistler, B.C., natives came from behind in the final run for a second-place time of one minute 52.709 seconds.

Germany’s Jessica Degenhardt and Vanessa Schneider won gold in 1:51.443, while Latvia’s Viktorija Ziedina and Selina Zvilna were third at 1:53.043.

“It is absolutely amazing. I can’t even describe how it feels to be an Olympic medallist, but it is something we will carry with us for the rest of our lives,” said Nash, who was fourth in Friday’s women’s singles race.

The 16-year-old Canadians were sitting in fourth sport after their first trip down the 13-corner track before putting down the second-fastest run in the final heat at 56.415.

“We really wanted to end it here on a good note,” Corless said. “We know that we put down the best run we could on that second run and it definitely paid off.”

Nash and Corless are just the third Canadian sled to win a medal at the Youth Olympic Games and first in the women’s doubles discipline. Reid Watts won bronze in men’s singles at the 2016 event while Brooke Apshkrum took gold in women’s singles the same year.

In short-track speedskating, Florence Bruncelle of Trois-Riveries, Que., won bronze in the women’s 1,000 metres.

In men’s hockey, Canada opened its preliminary-round schedule with a 6-2 loss to Russia. Adam Fantilli and Denton Mateychuk scored for the Canadians.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 18, 2020.

The Canadian Press