Tucker West

West at the 2015 luge world cup in Altenberg

Tucker West (born June 15, 1995) is an American slider, who, at the age of 18, was the youngest male ever to qualify to represent the United States in the men's luge at the Olympics. West placed 22nd in the men's single competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.[1][2]

West is currently a student at National Sports Academy High in Lake Placid, New York.[3][4] While not away at school, he is a resident of Ridgefield, Connecticut. When West was a boy, his father designed and built a wood luge track in the backyard of their Ridgefield home.[5]

Prior to making the ten-member Sochi squad, West was the co-champion of the 2012 U.S luge singles title with Chris Mazdzer, a U.S junior silver medalist, and a silver medalist at the 2011 world cup in Austria.

On 5 December 2014, West won the 2014–15 Luge World Cup men's singles race in Lake Placid. This win made him the first American to be victorious in a men's singles world cup event since Wendel Suckow on 15 February 1997.[6]

On December 4th of the following year of 2015, West finished second in the same men's singles Luge World Cup event to his teammate Chris Mazdzer in the first one two finish ever for the United States in a men's singles Luge World Cup event.[7]

On December 2 of 2016 West was triumphant for a second time again winning the 2016-17 Luge World Cup men's singles race in Lake Placid, this time besting the second place slider, Semen Pavlichenko of Russia by only 0.006 seconds for a time of 1:43.088.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Tucker West". teamusa.org. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  2. ↑ "Event Results - International Luge Federation". fil-luge.org. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "Tucker West, 18, of Ridgefield, youngest U.S. male luge member - Connecticut Post". ctpost.com. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  4. ↑ Jillian Eugenios. "Olympian's dad tries to get his 'very single' son a date on TODAY - TODAY.com". today.com. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  5. ↑ "Tucker West finds passion for luge in backyard track". usatoday.com. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  6. ↑ Zaccardi, Nick. "Tucker West becomes first U.S. men's luge World Cup winner since 1997". NBC OlympicTalk. NBC Sports. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  7. ↑ ref>http://news.yahoo.com/germanys-eggert-benecken-win-wc-luge-doubles-placid-175229957.html
  8. ↑ http://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/18189596/us-luger-tucker-west-wins-gold-eye-blink-lake-placid

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.