Winter roundup: Bronze for Canada in luge, skating

Canada claimed a bronze medal in the team relay event Sunday on the final day of the luge world championships in Koenigssee, Germany.

Coming off a disappointing effort Saturday, the new-look Canadian relay team — featuring 20-year-old Mitch Malyk, Alex Gough along with Tristan Walker and Justin Snith — captured their first medal together.

The Calgarians clocked a combined time of two minutes 45.907 seconds on one of their favourite tracks, which includes long straight-aways and tight and long free-flowing corners.

“It (bronze medal) definitely takes a little of the sting away from (Saturday), but not all of it,” said Snith, who along with Walker were in medal contention in the doubles race Saturday before letting it slip away on their final run.

“This shows it is completely within our ability. I’m glad we were able to do it on command today when it matters.”

The relay is a one-run bomb race consisting of one women’s, one men’s and one doubles sled. Athletes hit a pad hanging over the track after crossing the finish line, which opens the start gate for the next team member.

It was the first career medal for Malyk, who replaced three-time Olympian Sam Edney on the men’s singles sled for Canada’s relay team this year. Edney took the year off to recover from a nagging injury. BRONZE FOR JUNIO: Calgary’s Gilmore Junio won bronze in Sunday’s men’s 500-metre race at a stop on the World Cup long-track speedskating tour in Norway.

The result earned Junio a spot at the world single distance championships Feb. 11-14 in Kolomna, Russia.

Calgary’s William Dutton finished seventh in 34.97.