Regan Lauscher, Luge
Originally uploaded by Points North.
I both fear and am fascinated by luge. I didn't think there could be a more dangerous-looking sport...until I saw skeleton...but back to luge. Most of the time I've seen it, the lugers have almost all slid safely down. Not today.
The most heart-stopping and mind-blowing crash was the Ukrainian's. In one camera shot, we saw her fall half off her sled, yet hanging on to it despite the gravitational forces pulling her and it apart. In a following shot she flew by the camera face first on the ice, sled upside down on top of her, at over 80 kph. Then the next shot she looked like she was luging again. I didn't believe it. But yes, in the shot after that, she was back on her sled and navigating the rest of the course like a regular run. How did she do that?!
Despite some of the top-ranked lugers crashing out of the race or doing poorly, our Canadian Regan Lauscher finished clean and only in 10th. Either the Olympic environment or the injuries on the track threw her off her mental game because she was expecting to medal (not taking crashes into account, I assume).
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