According to recent Pique NewsMagazine article Simister Brings Hometown Advantage to Whistler, Canadian luge star Meaghan Simister is looking forward to competing on her home turf at the 2010 Games - and not just because she loves the new Whistler Sliding Centre.
[F]or Simister the home field advantage is more than the number of practice runs she got at the Whistler Sliding Centre last week. Thanks to a program by Petro Canada, her family from Alberta will be in Whistler to see her compete during the 2010 Games - something that has rarely happened in her nine years of racing, three with the junior team and six with the senior national team.
As Simister says:
"Just the fact that I'm going to have my parents there, my brothers, aunts and uncles, along with crowds of Canadians out there, it's going to be awesome and I know we all hope to draw on that," Simister said. "It should be one of our best experiences ever at a race. We go to some cool races in Europe that bring out thousands of fans, but none of them are ever waving Canadian flags. It's going to be awesome to compete at home and really feel that support."
Simister goes on to talk about the new track and how the Canadian team stacks up against the competition.
...Simister says the team has come a long way in the last few years, and has a lot of potential heading into this season with new equipment and access to the Whistler Sliding Centre.
During international training week the Canadian lugers were getting three runs a day maximum, but when the team is here for a camp it's usually four or five runs over two sessions a day.
"That's really beneficial... the more confident I feel the better I slide," she said. "You don't have to worry about specific lines here or there where you don't know what will happen, like on some European tracks I don't know as well. When you're going 140 km/h you want to know what to expect in every situation.
"I'm just really excited and happy for the season ahead, and really looking forward to it," she said. "I hope to make everyone proud."
We wish Meaghan the best on her journey to the Games - and of course, we look forward to hosting her folks in 2010! Check out the full interview with Meaghan Simister here.
Photo credit: Pique NewsMagazine
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