WHISTLER, B.C. — An unusual sight greeted Theo Downey as he slid into the finish dock at the luge world championships in Whistler, B.C., on Thursday — giant cut outs of his own face.
Seeing his girlfriend, parents and extended family cheering and waving was a welcome change for the Calgarian who's more used to racing in front of strangers thousands of kilometres from home.
“It was a good race. Lots of fun," Downey said. "Love racing at home."
“When we're in Europe, it kind of feels like we're the underdog," added his teammate, Dylan Morse. "We're like the foreigners racing in Europe. But here we have that home track advantage. We have all the people supporting us. It's really cool.”
Hearing the roar of a hometown crowd was a special experience for Whistler's Embyr-Lee Susko.
"We can't necessarily see them all the time, but I’ve never heard so many cheers lining the entire track," she said. "And I was smiling while I was sliding. That doesn't happen very often, to actively be present in that. So it was incredible. It was really fun.”
Calgary's Morse and Trinity Ellis of Pemberton, B.C., finished 11th in the mixed singles race Thursday, 0.914 seconds behind gold medallists Max Langenhan and Julia Taubitz of Germany. The pair tapped in one minute 22.354 seconds to take the first-ever world championship gold in mixed singles.
Jonathan Eric Gustafson and Emily Sweeney of the United States came second, just 0.095 seconds behind Langenhan and Taubitz. Austria's David Gleirscher and Madeleine Egle came in third.
The Americans' result mirrors the pair's first race of the year, at a World Cup stop in Lillehammer, Norway, where they finished second behind Langenhan and Taubitz.
“We started the season with that and now, world champs to have another silver it's awesome," Gustafson said.
Downey and Susko were 12th in the mixed singles race.
The inaugural mixed doubles world championship was also held Thursday, with Austria's Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl, and Selina Egle and Lara Michaela Kipp taking gold with a time of 1:22.354.
Hannes Orlamuender and Paul Constantin Gubitz, and Dajana Eitberger and Magdalena Matschina of Germany finished 0.018 back for silver. Fellow Germans Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, and Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal claimed bronze.
Devin Wardrope and Cole Anthony Zajanski, and Beattie Podulsky and Kailey Allan — all from Calgary — came in eighth, 1.029 seconds behind the Austrian gold medallists.
This year marks the first time mixed races are being included in the luge world championships. They replace sprints, a change Sweeney supports.
“It’s really exciting. I wasn’t really a fan of the sprint race. This, to me, is a much more dynamic race. It's more exciting," she said. "This is the first year that I've had to do a reaction start in competition, so it's a really great opportunity to showcase that side of our sport.”
For Morse, the mixed races bring a new dimension to luge.
“It adds that sense of camaraderie in an individual sport, which is really cool," he said. "We don't experience that much, but when we do, it's a lot of fun.”
Downey called mixed singles "one of the most fun events" he'd raced so far in his career.
“It’s basically a mini relay race, right? Relay is also one of the most fun," he said. "Even though you could have had a great run, it’s still that intense feeling of having to watch your teammate come down and be like ‘You’ve got this! You’ve got this!”
The world championships continue Friday with the men's and women's doubles, and the women's singles competitions before the men's singles and team relays take place on Saturday.
The races will provide crucial experience for a young Canadian team that's working its way toward the 2026 Olympics in Italy next year.
“A big part of this sport is experience. And we are lacking it, just in the amount of sliding time we've had. And that's why having worlds at home is so incredible," said Susko, who grew up sliding on the track in Whistler.
"Because I'd argue that the three of us — me, Caitlin (Nash) and (Trinity Ellis) — have the most runs out of probably anyone in the world on this track. So it's really incredible to finally have that leg up in experience.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2025.
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press
