LUGE: Alex Ferlazzo has made history tonight, securing Australia’s best Olympic men’s luge result with a 28th place finish.
Dissatisfied with his third run, the 22-year-old finished in a time 49.531 after struggling on fast ice.
“It’s disappointing coming to the Olympics and not having the result you wanted,” Ferlazzo said after starting his Olympic campaign nearly 1.45 seconds faster on run 1.
“I could tell off the top the ice was a lot harder and I guess I wasn’t prepared for that.
“When I came into the fourth corner, I tried to steer a bit more and picked up too high on the exit and had that little spill.
“It was over as soon as I did that. After that I just tried to lay down and enjoy the run.”
In his second Olympic campaign, Ferlazzo admitted 28th was not the result he was after as the Townsville-native headed into the second day of competition hoping to make the fourth and final run.
“It’s always gut wrenching but there’s always a part of you that hopes you can make up the time, but when I got to the finish I knew I was done.”
“Then on the ice I couldn’t find the grooves, the ice was like glass, so I just thought if I could make it down clean it was going to be quick, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
A 28th place finish surpasses Roger White’s 32rd at the Lillehammer 1994 Games and Ferlazzo’s own 33rd finish at his debut Games at Sochi 2014.
Ferlazzo said he wasn’t proud of the historic result yet, but will be in time and acknowledged that the past 12 months have been his best yet.
“The Olympics are the pinnacle of the sport and in saying that, this is still the best season I’ve had.
“I’ve had some great results on the World Cup circuit, so I can take that away and I’m happy with that."
David Gleirscher from Austraia came home with the gold medal in the men's event, with USA's Chris Mazdazar coming in second and Germany's Johannes Ludwig rounding out the podium.
Ferlazzo said he’s excited to head home to Townsville, back to the sun after the 2018 Olympics conclude and will continue to support his Aussie teammates through the remaining 14 days of competition.
Ashleigh Knight
olympics.com.au
