Canadian duo Podulsky, Allan thriving in ‘good chaos’ of women’s luge doubles

Beattie Podulsky and Kailey Allan already travel the world together, visiting the icy likes of the aptly named Winterberg, Germany, to compete on the luge World Cup circuit.

But this summer, the Canadians — both born and bred in similarly snowy Calgary — decided to switch up their itinerary.

“We go to the middle of nowhere in the freezing cold all the time and [so] we were like, ‘Let's go somewhere that's not cold and actually has things to do,’” Podulsky said. “Then you know, we're booking flights.”

For two weeks, Podulsky and Allan traversed New Zealand and Fiji in an RV — a small abode, but a mansion compared to the quarters they typically share on their 20-kilogram doubles luge sled.

As they remained physically close, the Olympic hopefuls also deepened their friendship.

“Half the time we were sleeping on like park service roads and all that so we weren't really talking to other people. So it's just us for two weeks for a little bit there and yeah, I think it definitely helped build the relationship more,” Podulsky said.

Now, the plan for Podulsky and Allan is to parlay that partnership into a spot in the starting field of the first-ever Olympic women’s luge doubles competition at Milan-Cortina Olympics — and potentially a spot on the podium, too.

Their journey continues when the World Cup season begins back in Winterberg on Dec. 5.

Luge has been part of the Olympic program since 1964, when it debuted with men’s and women’s singles competitions in addition to men’s doubles. In 2014, a team relay was added. Now, 62 years after athletes first began navigating icy tracks feet-first, women’s doubles joins the fray, too.

Like its men’s counterpart and unlike singles competitions, women’s doubles will comprise only of two