In addition to the five U.S. Army soldiers who will compete in the Sochi Olympic Games bobsled event, three more soldiers will be part of the U.S. Olympic Luge Team at Sochi.
Tim Hipps. U.S. Army Installation Management Command, reports:
Team USA luge coach Staff Sgt. Bill Tavares will lead Sgt. Matt Mortensen and Sgt. Preston Griffall, who secured their spot with a ninth-place finish in doubles at the Luge World Cup stop, Dec. 13, 2013, at Utah Olympic Park.
The U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, or WCAP, duo completed its first run down the 1,335-meter track that features 15 curves in 43.948 seconds, followed by a shakier slide down the mountain in 44.132 seconds — for a cumulative time of 1:28.080. Germany’s Tobias Wendl and Bvias Arlt won the race with a 1:27.326 clocking.
Read here how these athletes qualified for the spots on Team USA and their reactions.
U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program members Sgt. Matt Mortensen and Sgt. Preston Griffall earn a berth in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games by virtue of their World Cup performances, including this run to a ninth-place finish in luge doubles at Utah Olympic Park in Park City, Utah, Dec. 13, 2013. Team USA luge coach Staff Sgt. Bill Tavares will join Mortensen and Griffall at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. U.S. Army photo by Tim Hipps
Tim Hipps:
USA Luge officially announced nomination of the 2014 Olympic Luge Team, at the Utah Olympic Park Museum.
Joining the WCAP lugers on Team USA: Mazdzer of Saranac Lake, N.Y., Tucker West of Ridgefield, Conn., and Aidan Kelly of West Islip, N.Y., in men’s singles; Erin Hamlin of Remsen, N.Y., Hansen of La Canada, Calif., and Summer Britcher of Glen Rock, Pa., in women’s singles, along with Christian Niccum of Woodinville, Wash., and Jayson Terdiman of Berwick, Pa., in doubles.
“It’s unbelievable,” Mortensen said. “I get emotional thinking about it. It’s been almost 17 years that I’ve been working toward this point, and for it to finally happen is like a dream come true.”
Griffall hopes his third go-round might indeed produce the charm.
“Emotionally, it’s a pretty powerful thing,” he said. “This is the biggest event for our sport. It only happens every four years. We have World Cups and World Championships in between, but this is the big one, you know? Yeah, after Matt and I missed it narrowly in 2010, this has been a long time coming.”
Read more here.
We wish the Team good luck at Sochi and will bring more news as events unfold.
