Gough tested on and off the track
Canadian balancing engineering studies with building toward Olympic return
CALGARY — One could easily forgive Alex Gough for hitting the bar Friday night to celebrate the end of another gruelling semester at the University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering.
But after a week with two final exams — one in physics and one in dynamics — Gough wound down by pulling on her skin suit and sliding down the luge track at Winsport’s Canada Olympic Park.
The three- time Canadian Olympian ripped down the canyon of ice at the Calgary stop on the World Cup luge circuit under the lights on a chilly night.
She sat in fourth place after the first run, only to drop into sixth place after the second and final run.
Still, sixth is pretty impressive considering Gough spent most of her week poring over textbooks while her competitors merely concentrated on the task at hand.
“With school and everything, it’s tough, but it’s good,” said Gough, 28. “In the end, I will grow from it and be better for it. I think having multiple things to focus on and cause stress in my life will make me better at handling stress in the long run.”
Not shy of hard work or stress, Gough is a quiet sort likely to blend in with her classmates — in spite of the age difference. Most students probably have zero idea the girl across the aisle with the nose ring is Canada’s most dominant athlete — man or woman — in the history of luge.
Gough is the first Canadian athlete to ever win a World Cup luge race and the first Canadian to win multiple world championship and World Cup medals. She roared into the 2014 Sochi Winter Games as Canada’s best hope to win this country’s first Olympic medal in luge.
Didn’t happen. She finished an agonizing fourth in the women’s individual event and then, a few days later, re-lived the experience all over again by coming in fourth with her Canadian mates in the team relay.
History will show Canada recorded its best results ever in luge at the Olympics. But that proved little consolation. There’s a reason why they say fourth place is way harder to stomach than 15th.
“I was not terribly happy coming out of Sochi,” Gough said. “It was very bittersweet. We came so very close and just fell short of that elusive Olympic medal. That was really tough.”
Gough hit the road after Sochi and backpacked with her boyfriend around Asia. They visited Cambodia and Vietnam. They went diving in Thailand.
When her boyfriend flew back to Calgary, Gough went on to Paris where she did a little sightseeing and lots of thinking.
Upon arriving back home, she devised a new game plan to start her schooling while continuing to slide on the World Cup circuit. “I have enough downtime during World Cup weeks when I would be watching TV and reading books,” she said. “I was starting to feel like I needed something more in life. I wanted to build toward the future and have a plan. I’m someone who if I have a plan that I can follow, I just feel better about things. A little more in control.”
Kim McRae, of Calgary, felt in control Friday night after finishing fifth on her home track.
“I really wanted a podium today, but I have to be happy with fifth,” said McRae, who shocked the world at the 2014 Sochi Games by crossing the line in fifth.
“It is my best result of the season and it shows I’m back in it. I was right there and can do it. I will build from this throughout the rest of the year.’’
Natalie Geisenberger of Germany, won gold in one minute, 33.569 seconds. Erin Hamlin and Summer Britcher, of the United States, claimed silver (1:33.581) and bronze (1:33.712) respectively. Arianne Jones of Calgary, finished 13th.
I think having multiplet hings to focus on and cause stress in my life will make me better at handling stress in the longrun.
ALEX GOUGH THREE-TIME OLYMPIAN