Veteran Ludwig finally lands gold

A few days short of his 36th birthday, German luger Johannes Ludwig secured Olympic gold in the men's singles luge at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre, putting his name deservedly alongside his world champion compatriots who have dominated the sport for years.

Luge is considered the fastest of all the Olympic sports, with lugers capable of reaching speeds as fast as 150 kilometers per hour as they snake down the track.

Germany has a strong pedigree when it comes to luge. Of the 16 men's singles luge races that have been held at the Winter Olympics, the Germans have won 11 of them.

However, despite this, the top spot on the podium for the men's singles race had eluded Ludwig throughout his long career. That was all to change on Sunday when the 35-year-old finally came out on top of the pack.

Ludwig's four runs in Beijing came in at a time of 3 minutes and 48.735 seconds, 0.160 seconds ahead of Austria's Wolfgang Kindl and 0.951 seconds faster than Italy's Dominik Fischnaller.

The victory was the crowning moment of Ludwig's long career, a career that has had its fair share of ups and downs.

In 2014 Ludwig failed to qualify for the Olympics and the German missed out on medals, placing fourth at five world championships throughout his career.

Despite winning a team gold and singles bronze at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, setbacks and disappointment made him doubt his future.

"I ended up fourth so many times, and I was skeptical if I should continue," Ludwig said.

Brushing aside the talk about his advanced age for the sport, he decided to face another four years of intense training and take his last crack at the Games in China.

Ludwig made the right decision to push on, and being crowned luge champion at Beijing 2022 is the proof of the pudding.

"I stayed tuned despite all the ups and downs. I thought I was so near a lot of times. It gave me motivation and confidence to try once more," the German said.

Emotional after achieving his dream, Ludwig was able to reflect on the difficult weeks and months that are now behind him.

While preparing for his last Games, he couldn't see his wife and two children, and kept a self-imposed quarantine to address strict safety rules.

"As many, I invested a lot to experience the dream of the Olympic Games," he said.

Now that Ludwig has achieved individual Olympic glory, the German is quick to remind people that though he is the one piloting his sled on the track, there is a dedicated team of engineers, designers and support staff behind the scenes.

"No athlete in my sport can win on his own; we need a team behind us. My team made me win the gold medal, my coaches, my engineers, and my family. I am so very grateful," he said.

In many ways piloting a racing luge sled is a bit like driving a Formula 1 car, according to Ludwig.

Similar to F1 drivers, lugers are obsessed with racing lines and trying to extract the maximum speed possible out of the sled. As well as aerodynamics, lugers experiment with shifting their body weight in certain ways while cornering to gain a competitive advantage over their rivals.

After his singles achievement, the upcoming team event this week may just be the final emotional Olympic challenge that Ludwig will face.

Xinhua