Ridgefield's Tucker West Slides To Victory At Luge National Championships

RIDGEFIELD, Conn. – Ridgefield's Tucker West dominated in all four heats as he won the 2016 Norton National Championship in luge this past weekend at Mount Van Hoevenberg, outside Lake Placid, N.Y.

Ridgefield's Tucker West, center, poses with silver medalist Taylor Morris, left, and bronze medalist Jonny Gustafson, right, after the 2016 Norton National Championship for luge. West won gold in the event last weekend.
Photo Credit: *USA Luge / Facebook*

Daily Voice

11/01/2016 5:30 a.m.

West, 21, who was a member of the 2014 Olympic team in Sochi, continues his quest for the 2018 games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

This was the second U.S. crown for West, who tied with Chris Mazdzer in 2012, according to USA Luge.

In the past two years, West has won gold and silver medals in Lake Placid World Cup races.

“It was a good week of sliding. There were a few mistakes along the way, but overall I thought my sliding was pretty good,” West told USA Luge. “So moving into the next few races, over the next couple of weeks, I’ll keep making more and more improvements to both my sled and sliding style, and then hopefully come four weeks from now we’ll be ready to take it to the world.”

West's total was 3 minutes, 27.394 seconds for a convincing victory.

The team now departs for training camps and two more seeding races on the Olympic tracks at Whistler, British Columbia, on Nov. 5 and Park City, Utah, on Nov. 11 to determine World Cup assignments.

The World Cup tour begins Nov. 26-27 in Winterberg, Germany, followed by World Cup races in Lake Placid (Dec. 2-3), Whistler (Dec. 9-10) and Park City (Dec. 16-17).

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