Whistler's Natalie Corless came up big in FIL Junior World Cup action at St. Moritz, Switzerland on Jan. 17.
The 15-year-old bested a field of nearly 40 sleds to secure her first-ever youth 'A' singles victory and second podium finish of the season. Corless had the lead after the first run and followed it up with the second-best second run en route to edging runner-up Yulianna Tunytska of Ukraine by 0.141 seconds and Elizaveta Yurchenko of Russia by 0.339 seconds. The only other Canadian in the race, Ava Luscombe, placed seventh.
Sliding with Caitlin Nash, Corless also won three youth 'A' doubles races in Park City, Utah, and Calgary in December.
In youth 'A' men's singles action on Jan. 18, Colton Clarke and Devin Wardrope were the top Canadians in 12th and 13th, respectively. Whistler's Garrett Reid was 18th and Thomas Fassnridge took 19th. Latvia's Gints Berzins got past Russia's Pavel Repilov and Slovakia's Marian Skupek for the win.
In the youth 'A' doubles event on Jan. 17, Wardrope and Fassnridge put up an eighth-place finish. Russian sleds took the top two spots, with Mikhail Karnaukhov and Iurii Chirva earning the win over Viacheslav Popov and Anton Osipenko and Germany's Moritz Jaeger and Valentin Steudte.
Junior men's, junior women's and team races are slated for Saturday, Jan. 19.
Full results are online at www.fil-luge.org.
