Canadians Tristan Walker and Justin Snith move closer to World Cup luge podium

ALTENBERG, Germany – Canadians Tristan Walker and Justin Snith ended their season on a high note, narrowly missing the podium with a fifth-place finish on Saturday at a World Cup luge doubles race in Altenberg, Germany.

Struggling to find their way near the top of the international standings — a place they comfortably owned two years ago — Walker and Snith again challenged for medals over the last two weeks. The two Canadians teamed up to match their best result of the season with a fifth-place time of 1:23.738.

Walker, from Cochrane, Alta., and Calgary’s Snith enjoyed a breakthrough performance last week when they were in the medal mix at the world championships before making a costly mistake on their second run dropping them to eighth. They came back out the following day and led the Canadians to a bronze medal in the team relay.

Germany’s Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken won the doubles race with a time of 1:22.890. Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, also of Germany, were second at 1:23.269. Austria’s Peter Penz and Georg Fischler posted the third fastest times in each of their two runs to secure the bronze medal at 1:23.471.

Calgary’s Mitch Malyk proved his 12th place finish last week was no fluke. The 20-year-old Malyk matched his world championship finish with a time of 1:48.392.

World champion Felix Loch of Germany won gold in 1:47.556. Russia’s Roman Repilov slid into the silver medal position on the podium at 1:47.885, while American Chris Mazdzer locked up the bronze in 1:47.902.