Luge standout Hansen keeps up her winning ways

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I’ll admit we don’t get too much luge up here on the blog, but then again luge isn’t one of the most Southern California-friendly sports.

Still, that hasn’t stopped La Canada sophomore Kate Hansen from making an impact on the U.S. Luge junior circuit. Despite heading into her final run mired in eighth place, Hansen smoked the 21-competitor field on her final descent to win the Verizon U.S. Junior Women’s Singles National Title in Lake Placid, N.Y. on March 11.

The performance was quite an encore for Hansen, who became the youngest U.S. Junior World Champion in February when she also rallied from eighth place to take the gold medal. Pretty impressive, especially when you consider there probably hasn’t been enough ice in La Canada to really go sledding in since the last ice age.

We’ll see if Hansen can keep up her blistering pace over the next few years. And who knows? If Hansen keeps winning, it wouldn’t be impossible to think she could earn herself a ticket to Vancouver in 2010.

Here’s a quick (and I do mean quick) YouTube video of Hansen pulling some Gs on the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex track in Lake Placid:

-- Austin Knoblauch

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