Lugers Walker, Snith have shown going downhill fast has its upside

Often an inside joke, the Canadian bronze — aka fourth place — had become all too familiar a finish for luge doubles pair Tristan Walker and Justin Snith.

They had finished fourth four consecutive times leading into the 2014 World Cup event in Königssee, Germany, including at the 2013 world championships in Whistler, B.C., and World Cups in Lake Placid and Sochi. On the cusp of the Olympics in Sochi, this wasn't the momentum they were hoping for.

It itched at both of them, two highly competitive souls who take no half-measures when it comes to being the best they can be. Snith can be so intense he even left his childhood soccer team because he felt the other kids weren't trying hard enough. He went into luge to compete individually, and only committed to the doubles because he knew childhood friend Walker was just as passionate about winning as he was.

That's why their result at Königssee means so much to the pair. After all those close but not quite close enough moments, the number of times they've set up base camp there and essentially made it a home away from home, it was fitting that Germany was where they broke through, winning bronze for the first-ever podium finish for a Canadian pair.

"It was a little bit of relief," Snith said about winning in their second home that has provided plenty of highs and lows. "To finally do it there in Königssee of all places was really something special. I'd like to have the first one at home in front of friends and family but if it wasn't going to be home, I would draw it up to be [in Königssee] 10 times out of 10."

That was five years into their senior doubles career together. There have been both Canadian bronze finishes as well as more podium finishes since, on even bigger