Tristan Walker

Justin Snith
nation	Canada
birthday	16th May 1991 (age 28)
place of birth	Calgary ,  Canada
size	185 cm
Weight	88 kg
job	college student
Career
discipline	Two-seater
National squad	since 2009
status	active
Medal table
Olympic medals 0 × 1 × 0 × World Cup medals 0 × 1 × 3 × America Pacific Championships 5 × 2 × 0 × U-23 World Cup medals 1 × 2 × 0 × JWM medals 0 × 0 × 1 ×
winter Olympics silver 2018 Pyeongchang Team relay  Luge World Championships bronze 2012 Altenberg Team relay silver 2013 Whistler Team relay bronze 2015 Sigulda Team relay bronze 2015 Königssee Team relay America Pacific Championships silver 2011 Calgary Two-seater gold 2012 Lake Placid Two-seater gold 2013 Whistler Two-seater silver 2014 Lake Placid Two-seater gold 2015 Calgary Two-seater gold 2017 Calgary Two-seater gold 2019 Whistler Two-seater Luge U-23 World Championship silver 2011 Cesana Two-seater silver 2012 Altenberg Two-seater gold 2013 Whistler Two-seater  Junior Luge World Championships bronze 2009 Nagano Two-seater
Placements in the Luge World Cup
Debut in the World Cup 2009  Overall World Cup DS 7. ( 2013/14 )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Two-seater 0 0 3  Sprint two-seater 0 0 1  Team relay 3 11 3
last change: end of season 2019/20

Tristan Walker (born May 16, 1991 in Calgary ) is a Canadian luge rider . Together with his doubles partner Justin Snith , he forms one of the most successful international toboggan doubles of the 2010s and the best Canadian toboggan doubles of the 2000s to date.

Tristan Walker grew up in the Canadian winter sports stronghold of Calgary. At the age of ten he was registered by his parents in three sports in this field: ski jumping , biathlon and luge. Since it was the fastest of the three sports, Walker stayed with tobogganing. He lives in Cochrane and trains in Calgary. Since a training camp of the Canadian Luge Association in 2004, he has formed a toboggan double with Justin Snith as a pilot and Obermann.

Junior sport

Initially, Walker was in a single-seater. In 2007 he entered his first international championship at the Junior World Championships in Cesana Pariol and was a very young starter with a win by Felix Hole 26. The following year in Park City he was 16 in singles with a win by Wolfgang Kindl . In doubles with Snith he finished fifth when Toni Eggert and Marcel Oster won. In the team competition he was used twice, both in the single-seater and with Snith in the double-seater. Together with Arianne Jones they came in seventh. The final breakthrough as a doubles came from Walker / Snith at the Junior World Championships in Nagano in 2008 . In singles he improved again and with a victory Julian von Schleinitz was 12th, in doubles they were third behind Nico Walther and Nico Grünneker as well as Daniel Rothamel and Chris Rohmeiß and won the bronze medal. With Stefan Rath and Arianne Jones they also finished fifth in the team competition.

Performance range

Advancement to world class: from the first to the second Olympic Games

For the 2009/10 season , the men changed to the performance area. From now on, Walker only rode in a doubles with partner Snith and no longer in a single-seater. They made their debut on their home track in Calgary and immediately took a respectable 13th place. After a small step backwards with 17th place in Igls , the double on the difficult track in Altenberg was again 13th. After two 15th places at Königssee and Oberhof , the very young double - both were still 18 years old - were able to take part in their first Olympic Games in their Canadian homeland in Vancouver . As in the last races before the World Cup, they were 15th here too. It should remain their weakest result at the Olympic Games by far. In the overall World Cup ranking of their first season in the men, Walker / Snith finished 21st.

The post-Olympic season brought the breakthrough to the extended world elite . After an eleventh place at the start of the season and thus narrowly missing the first top ten position, further results in the ranks eleven to seventeen followed in the races in Winterberg (15), Calgary (11), Park City (14), Königssee ( 17) and Oberhof (14). In Oberhof she also qualified for her first relay competition in the World Cup and finished seventh with Alex Gough and Samuel Edney . In Altenberg they finished tenth for the first time in the top ten. At their first World Championships in 2011 in Cesana, they improved their best international result to eighth place. In the separate U-23 classification, they won the silver medal behind the Italians Patrick Rastner and Ludwig Rieder . At the end of the season, they were also eleventh in Paramonowo and 14th in Soppel and eighth in the team in Sigulda . In the overall double-seater ranking of the World Cup in the 2010/11 season, they finished 12th with 272 points.

The 2011/12 season began for Walker / Snith with a ninth place in the double race in Igls. In the relay race that followed, they were able to win together with Alex Gough and Samuel Edney for the first time with a Canadian team in this competition. Walker / Snith, Edney and Gough also finished second on the podium behind the German relay consisting of Christian Weise , Ronny Pietrasik , Felix Loch and Natalie Geisenberger in the next relay race after finishing tenth in Whistler's double race . On the home track in Calgary, they improved their best performance in a World Cup double race to sixth place. The races in Calgary were also the America-Pacific Championships , in which Walker / Snith won the silver medal behind the Americans Matt Mortensen and Preston Griffall . Further single-digit placements followed at Königssee as eighth in doubles and sixth in the relay. Setbacks followed with 18th place in Oberhof and 15th in Winterberg, but in Oberhof they almost reached the podium again with the Canadian team in fourth place. At the 2012 World Championships in Altenberg, Walker / Snith finished 13th in doubles. In the separate U-23 World Cup, they won the silver medal again behind Russian doubles Alexander Denissjew and Wladislaw Antonow . With Gough and Edney they also won the bronze medal in the relay race. Then they were 15 of the double race and fifth of the relay race in Sigulda and ninth to the season finale in Paramonowo. With 281 points they finished tenth in the overall World Cup ranking.

The 2012/13 season brought the final breakthrough to the top of the world, with Walker / Snith able to achieve single-digit placings in all of their races. At the start of the season in Igls, they came in seventh and once again reached the podium with Gough and Edney in second place behind the German relay. Four race weekends in Germany followed. First they were seventh at Königssee, then sixth in Altenberg and again at Königssee and ninth in Winterberg. At the 2013 World Championships in Whistler, they just missed their first international individual medal in the men when they finished fourth. Nevertheless, they won the title in the independent U-23 classification. In the relay race they once again won the silver medal behind the German team in the composition of Gough, Edney and Walker / Snith. The World Cup races in Lake Placid followed, in which Walker / Snith finished fourth in both the doubles and relay races. It was also the America-Pacific Championships in 2012 , during which they won the title. At the season finale, the pre-Olympic test race in Sochi , they again missed the first jump on the World Cup podium in fourth place, which they reached as third place in the relay race. With 351 points, they finished eighth in the overall World Cup ranking.

Walker and Snith started the 2013/14 Olympic season poorly . In Lillehammer they only finished 19th. Also in Igls they missed a single-digit placement as 12th, but with Gough and Edney they finished second behind the Germans. Things went better again with fifth place in Winterberg. On their home track in Calgary they once again missed the first jump on the podium in an individual race when they finished fourth, but managed to finish second again with the relay. It was also the America-Pacific Championships in 2013 , during which the two Canadians won the title again. At Park City , they finished eighth and fourth in season. Three race weekends followed in January 2014 in Germany. At Königssee, Walkerund Snith was Canada's first toboggan double in the World Cup to achieve a podium finish in third place. In the relay race they made it with Gough and Edney again as runner-up on the podium. In Oberhof, Altenberg and Sigulda followed eighth places in the double races, in Altenberg they also came second again with the Canadian relay. With 407 points, they took seventh place in the overall World Cup ranking. Then they started in Sochi at their second Winter Olympics . After the first round, they were promising fourth place. After a turbulent second run, in which they had only achieved the sixth-best run time, were 0.05 seconds behind the Latvian doubles Andris and Juris Šics, still in fourth place and had missed a medal. Also in the relay race, which was held for the first time - again against the Latvian team - they missed a medal with their long-time relay colleagues Edney and Gough in fourth place.

Consolidation: from the second to the third games

Walker / Snith at the World Cup race in Altenberg in February 2015

The 2014/15 season started like the previous season with a poor 19th place, this time in Igls. Already in Lake Placid better placings could be achieved with a ninth place in doubles and fourth place with Kimberley McRae and Mitchel Malyk in the relay race. The races were also the 2014 America-Pacific Championships , in which Walker and Snith won the silver medal behind Matthew Mortensen and Jayson Terdiman . The results were even better on the home track in Calgary , where they first achieved their second podium finish in the double race and then came fourth in the sprint race, which was held for the first time. At Königssee, ninth place in the double race was followed by a podium finish in the double race, now again with Edney and Gough. In January 2015, Snith was injured. At first he thought it was just a sprain, but the injury turned out to be a broken ankle. Nevertheless, he did not have an operation until March and the doubles continued. In Oberhof, they finished 20th in their worst position in years, but then came fourth again with the Canadian relay. In Lillehammer they made it back to a single-digit place in the doubles race and finished seventh and fourth again in the relay race. The 2015 World Championships in Sigulda followed. In Latvia, Walker / Snith missed the top ten positions in eleventh place, but won their third World Cup medal with bronze alongside Edney and Gough. They contested their last races of the season in Altenberg and finished sixth in the double and fifth in the sprint double race. They did not compete for the season finale in Sochi. With 402 points, they were ninth in the overall World Cup ranking.

Snith & Walker at the award ceremony in Oberhof 2016

Even before the start of the season, in October 2015, Snith tore a bond, but both started the season. The start of the 2015/16 season went better than in previous years. In Igls, they started the season with a sixth place and finished fifth in the season. But there was a drop in performance in Lake Placid, Walker / Snith only achieved 14th place in the double race, but finished fourth in relay with Kimberley McRae and Mitchel Malyk. Also in Park City they reached the sprint race of the best 15 as 15th of the double race and finished tenth there. The results got better again on the home track in Calgary with fifth place in doubles and eighth in sprint races. It was also the 2015 America-Pacific Championships , during which Walker and Snith were able to win their third title. Sigulda brought no upward trend with 18th place in doubles and fifth in relay. This only started in the last World Cup races before the World Championships in Oberhof, where the two Canadians narrowly missed the podium in both doubles and sprints as fourth. The world championships at Königssee started with a seventh sprint, which was followed by eighth place in the double race. In the relay race they won their fourth world championship medal alongside Alex Gough and Mitchel Malyk with bronze. At the season finale in Winterberg, they finished eighth in the sprint race and were able to win their wide World Cup relay race alongside Arianne Jones and Michel Malyk. In the overall ranking of the Sprint World Cup, they finished eighth, with 449 points in the overall World Cup, tenth place.

Walker / Snith, Samuel Edney and Kimberley McRae at the 2017 World Cup relay race in Oberhof

The 2016/17 season was similar to the previous seasons. In Winterberg, Walker and Snith started the season with single-digit placements, finishing seventh in the double race and ninth in the sprint. After finishing ninth in doubles in Lake Placid, Walker / Snith, together with Kimberley McRae and Samuel Edney, won their third relay World Cup victory. This makes Walker and Snith the few Canadians who have participated in all three previous World Cup victories with the relay. In Park City they again showed a weaker performance with rank 18 and did not qualify for the sprint race. It was also the 2016 America-Pacific Championships . Walker / Snith could not win a medal for the first and to date only time since the first edition of these continental championships, making it the only triple triumph of the USA. After they had a very good weekend at Königssee with fifth place in the double race and fourth with the relay, they again failed to qualify for the sprint race in Sigulda in 18th place. At the 2017 World Championships in Igls, the Canadians finished tenth in the sprint, nine in the doubles and six in the relay race. The races after the World Championships in Oberhof went much better again with fourth places in doubles and relay and sixth places in these two competitions at the Olympic preparatory races in Pyeongchang . At the season finale, they were eighth and fifth in doubles and with the relay. After the mixed season they missed the top ten of the overall World Cup ranking for the first time in many years with 432.

Walker / Snith at the finish at the World Cup race in Altenberg in December 2017

The 2017/18 season started very poorly in the double races. In Igls, Walker and Snith finished 22nd in the third race of the season in Altenberg. In between, they finished eighth and sixth in the sprint in Winterberg. It went better in the relay races. Both at the start of the season and in Altenberg, they were second in the competition at the side of Gough and Malyk. After the bad placements they had lost their fixed World Cup starting place and first had to qualify for the main race in Calgary via the Nations Cup. They mastered the task with flying colors and won the race. They finished sixth in the World Cup, with Gough and Endney again second in the relay race. Since it was the America-Pacific Championships of the year, they won the title here for the fourth time. A week later, just before Christmas, Walker and Snith were able to finish third in a two-seater race for the second time in Lake Placid and thus make it onto the podium for the second time. In the sprint race that followed, they were only 12. At Königssee they were often strong again, as in previous years, and came fifth in the doubles and relay races. The results in Oberhof with places 12 and seven were less good. Also in Lillehammer and Sigulda they were 12 of the doubles races, also in Sigulda in the sprint races, in Lillehammer they were sprint ninth. The third Olympic Games followed . In South Korea, Walker and Snith got off to a very good start in the Olympic competition and were fourth in the medal range after the first round. However, after they had only achieved the sixth-best time in the second round, as they did four years earlier, they fell back to fifth place in the end. The relay race went better. Together with Alex Gough and Samuel Edney, with whom they had achieved so many successes in the last eight years, they drove to silver behind the German relay.

Since 2018

Double-seater race in Igls at the start of the 2018/19 season

The Canadian team relay with Walker / Snith, Reid Watts and Kimberley McRae at the 2019 World Championships

After a mediocre start to the 2018/19 World Cup with 12th place in doubles and eighth place in the sprint in Igls, the results at the races in North America improved again. After finishing fifth in Whistler and nine in Calgary, Walker / Snith were initially fifth in the doubles race in Lake Placid. In the following sprint they reached the podium for the third time in a single race and for the first time in a sprint as third place. The races were also the 2018 America-Pacific Championships , but next to Walker Snith only the Americans Christopher Mazdzer and Jayson Terdiman competed. As the better of the two doubles, the Canadians could not win the title, as there must have been at least three rated doubles at the start. After that, 13th place at Königssee was a setback again. The 2019 World Championships in Winterberg were also less successful with ranks 13 in the sprint and five in the relay. They were disqualified in the double-seater race. In Altenberg they were only eleventh after the World Cup, after they had to qualify again in the Nations Cup race that they won. They contested their last races in Oberhof, where they finished fifth in the two-seater race and seventh in the relay race. As before in Sigulda, the Canadians did not compete in the season finale in Sochi. Despite these three missing races, Walker / Snith were able to reach the top ten of the overall World Cup standings with 412 points in tenth place.

Walker and Snith in the Nations Cup race at the start of the 2019/20 season in Igls

The 2019/20 season should be the weakest in years and for the first time in many seasons there should be no podium finishes for Walker and Snith. The season began with the two Canadians in Igls having to qualify for the World Cup race via the Nations Cup and finishing second. They then finished ninth in the main race and narrowly missed the podium with the Canadian relay team in fourth. This was followed by the North American tour, which began with seventh place in the two-seater and tenth in the sprint race at Lake Placid. In Whistler they had to qualify again via the Nations Cup and were second again, then sixth in the World Cup race. They were the best doubles from America and won the America-Pacific Championships for the fifth time . In the sprint race they came in 13th place. After the turn of the year, the season in Europe continued. In Altenberg, Walker / Snith took tenth place in the two-seater competition and finished seventh with the relay. After the retirement of several experienced athletes, even less experienced, younger starters, such as Carolyn Maxwell and Reid Watts in this case, were the teammates. In Sigulda, too, they were second in the Nations Cup race and then finished eleventh in the doubles race. They finished eleventh in the sprint race and placed sixth in the overall sprint standings. Walker and Snith contested their last races of the season in Oberhof. After a sixth place in the Nations Cup race, they finished seventh in the World Cup race and a poor eighth in the team relay race. Due to the approaching COVID-19 pandemic , the Canadian team ended the season prematurely and waived the final season races in Winterberg and at Königssee. With only 351 points and 14th place in the overall standings, it was one of the weakest seasons of the doubles, albeit partly due to external circumstances.

successes

World Cup victories

Team relay

No.	date	place	train
1.	Nov 27, 2011	innsbruck	Igls artificial ice rink bobsleigh
2.	Feb 21, 2016	Winterberg	Winterberg bobsleigh run
3.	03rd Dec 2016	Lake Placid	Olympic bobsleigh track Lake Placid

Web links

Commons : Tristan Walker  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Tristan Walker in the database of the International Luge Federation
• Portrait at the Canadian Olympic Committee (English)
• Entry at Olympiadia (English)