Delaney: Luge doubles
Did you ever wonder why there aren't any women's doubles luge sleds in World Cup races?
I was thinking the same thing so this week I finally asked USA Luge. I got an answer from a guy who ought to know: Brian Martin, a four-time Olympian and a member of one of the U.S. sleds going to Whistler, British Columbia next month for the Winter Olympics.
In luge there are men's singles, women's singles and doubles. The doubles are not gender specific, meaning a country can put anyone on a sled: men, women, or mixed doubles. The doubles sliders are at the team's discretion.
So why no women?
"I think one of the major factors is upper body strength," said Martin, who has Olympic silver and bronze medals with doubles partner Mark Grimmette. "Men being stronger and explosive at the start, it would be really difficult to compete if you didn't have a world class start. It's very difficult to win with a bad start and it's easy to lose with a good one. You need that speed out of the handles to be competitive."
I was thinking the same thing so this week I finally asked USA Luge. I got an answer from a guy who ought to know: Brian Martin, a four-time Olympian and a member of one of the U.S. sleds going to Whistler, British Columbia next month for the Winter Olympics.
In luge there are men's singles, women's singles and doubles. The doubles are not gender specific, meaning a country can put anyone on a sled: men, women, or mixed doubles. The doubles sliders are at the team's discretion.
So why no women?
"I think one of the major factors is upper body strength," said Martin, who has Olympic silver and bronze medals with doubles partner Mark Grimmette. "Men being stronger and explosive at the start, it would be really difficult to compete if you didn't have a world class start. It's very difficult to win with a bad start and it's easy to lose with a good one. You need that speed out of the handles to be competitive."
posted by Anne Delaney at
7:22 PM
1 Comments:
I get cold reading this blog.
p.s. Dear Editor, please put a clear link to writers' blogs at the top of the Sports webpage .. very hard to find. No wonder there is little commentary here .. which is unfortunate given some great reporting/writing and Americans' love for sports.
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