Whistler lugers Caitlin Nash and Natalie Corless are making history once again.
The duo teamed up to win the first-ever women's doubles race, topping the youth 'A' division in Park City, Utah last year en route to claiming the inaugural Crystal Globe in the category.
The 16-year-olds took another step forward on Dec. 12, finishing 11th in the Nation's Cup doubles race at the Whistler Sliding Centre to become the first women's team to ever qualify for a Viessmann FIL World Cup.
"It's super exciting to be able to qualify at home. This is our World Cup debut and being able to race with the men here, some of the best in the world, is an amazing experience for us and we're really just so excited," Corless said.
Nash noted that the pair started sliding from the higher senior start height at the beginning of the year, but neither was expecting all that much.
"It was more kind of a joke at the beginning. Maybe we could do it, maybe we couldn't, but we started training on the doubles sleds here a few months ago before we went to Europe," she said. "We made it up to the start height. We were having pretty solid runs, so they ended up registering us for the [Nation's Cup] race."
Both agreed that, since they'll be racing the best in the world, their expectations aren't high and they're just looking to put down two strong showings.
"We want to showcase what we can do, show our best, and that will be enough for us," Corless said.
The doubles race is slated for Saturday at 12:50 p.m.
World Cup action begins tomorrow with the women's race at 1:40 p.m. and the men's race at 4:30 p.m. The Sprint World Cup on Saturday will conclude the weekend and will begin at 3:30 p.m.
Other Canadians who qualified for the World Cup through Thursday's Nation's Cup action were: Tristan Walker and Justin Snith (doubles); Reid Watts of Whistler and Colton Clarke (men's); and Brooke Apshkrum, Trinity Ellis of Pemberton, Carolyn Maxwell, and Makena Hodgson (women's). Whistler resident Veronica Ravenna, who competes for Argentina, also qualified.
