Elsa Desmond makes Olympic luge debut

Elsa Desmond made her Olympic debut competing in the women’s singles runs in the luge and finished 34th.

Each athlete competed in two runs this evening which will be tallied with runs tomorrow night to give an overall standing for the athletes at the Yangqing National Sliding Centre.

In her first run Desmond scored a personal best by 1.2 seconds with a finishing time of 1.01.68. 3.263 seconds behind the leader resulting in a rank just ahead of Moldova.

A more disappointing second run saw Ireland’s first Luge Olympian fall behind marginally going into Run three with a time of 1:03.857 resulting in a total of 2:05.465 overall.

“I have so many emotions right now” said Desmond after her second run. “I have just made history, I have just become an Olympian, it’s just amazing”.

“When I finished that first run, the emotions! It was just the most amazing feeling. I got a personal best by 1.2 seconds, which in this sport is amazing. I was so havppy! It’s just a disappointment on the second run, but I kept the shiny side down, so I guess that’s something to be grateful for!”

A small mistake in the early section of the second run proved costly for the athlete who also is responsible for establishing the Irish luge federation.

“My start wasn’t good. I went into that first corner on the right hand side which is not where you want to be. This pushed me late into the second corner, and there wasn’t really much to salvage it at that point.

“The ice was really hard and it’s really skiddy, which means that when you get a hit like that it can take a bit of time to get it back under control. And I just didn’t really feel settled in the sled after that, and nothing quite clicked”.

Tomorrow the newly qualified doctor will go again, with one final run. Only the top 20 ranked athletes after round three will move into the final run and contest the medals. She aims to replicate her preparation from today.

“I’m just going to try to prepare the same way as I did for my first run today, try to have a relaxing day tomorrow” added Desmond. “Prep the sled and just go in and enjoy my last run.”