Belated medal has luger Sam Edney chasing his Olympic 'moment' to go with it

Sam Edney and the Canadian luge team embraced in a celebratory group hug before Christmas upon learning of a sudden upgrade to bronze from fourth place at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Word of the team relay medal — Canada's first in luge — came via the International Olympic Committee in December after the retroactive suspension of  Russians Albert Demchenko and Tatiana Ivanova for doping violations.

But after a brief huddle, Edney and his colleagues jumped back on their sleds and got back to work. There was simply no time to party or reflect on the magnitude of the achievement given the looming Winter Games Feb. 9 to 25 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

For Edney, Pyeongchang will be his fourth and final Olympic appearance. Much like the irrepressible Calvin from the cartoon strip Calvin & Hobbes, he plans to attack the hill with abandon in pursuit of a storybook ending to his 15-year career on the national team.

Living in the moment is paramount for a man who realizes the end is near.

Not thinking of Sochi medal

"The Sochi medal is something we were no longer thinking about," says Edney, the granddaddy of the Canadian luge team at age 33. "Even when the news broke, it was still like, 'Oh. That's great. It's amazing news.'

"But at the same time, we're so focused on what we want to achieve in Pyeongchang. That makes the excitement seem a bit surreal or even not real."

Come March, regardless of the results in Pyeongchang, Edney can indulge in walks along the beach in his adopted hometown of Victoria, B.C., and soak in the bronze medal that initially slipped away.

"What the Canadian relay team missed out on was the moment," says Jeff Christie, a former Canadian luger who worked as a commentator at the 2014 Sochi races for CBC Sports. "They missed out on coming up the outrun and pumping their fist, understanding that they won a medal and the celebration in that moment. That's what they were cheated out of. 

"But I was talking to Sammy the other day and I said, 'Sammy, you've got your medal. Now go get your moment. The pressure of the medal is off now in Korea. Now go get what was not given to you — or what was taken away — in Sochi.'"

Back in 2014,  Edney and his mates touched down in Sochi with high hopes for making history in a sport traditionally dominated by the Germans.

They came agonizingly close with three fourth-place finishes in women's singles (Alex Gough), doubles (Justin Snith and Tristan Walker) and the team relay (Gough, Edney, Walker and Snith)

For Edney, missing out on a medal by 0.041 seconds proved devastating.

"I was definitely in a state of shock for the entire next season," says Edney, who also finished 11th in men's singles in Sochi. "I definitely felt that might have been the last opportunity I would have."

Edney returned to competition for the 2014-15 season which he thought might be his farewell tour. (Call it a victory lap, of sorts, much like high school students who stick around for another year before moving on to university.)

But Edney shocked himself in December 2014 by becoming the first Canadian man to win a World Cup singles race, taking gold on his home track in Calgary.

Calgary race 'stirred pot'

"That race in Calgary was what stirred the pot for me and it actually shook me into realizing that maybe I can make a thing of this for another Olympics" he says. "I just needed to get everything in order so the moment I'm done in Pyeongchang, I can enter the real world with a bit of a head start instead of way behind."

With that in mind, Edney parked his sled for a year to complete his Bachelor's of Commerce from Royal Roads University. Degree in hand, he returned to the icehouse in the fall of 2016 and won bronze last February in the Pyeongchang test event — making him the first Canadian man to slide to a World Cup luge medal outside of Canada.

Will he be able to repeat that success in men's singles on Feb. 10 and 11 in South Korea? Or in the team event on Feb. 15 with a Canadian crew that finished third overall this season in World Cup action?

"On the luge circuit, people know I can drive that track extremely well," Edney says. "I'm really confident on the track. So for me, I just have to be able to pull the fastest starts that I can.

"I know that track. I feel great on it. I'm confident in my equipment. So now it's just the start and a bit of a head game just knowing that I can be consistent over four runs."

Eighteen years ago, Edney went on his first trip to Europe with the junior national team. At the time, Canada was a non-factor in luge with little to no chance of hitting the podium in World Cup events.

"Back then, we would sleep on the side of the Autobahn in our van," he says. "Money was so tight that we didn't really have the money to splurge on a hotel between races. That was the old days. 

"And now you look where we are, we are fighting for medals every weekend and trying to be on top of the podium. It's pretty cool to see what's happened."

But now is not really the time to reflect on what's happened. Now is the time to focus on Pyeongchang and prove the (belated) medal in Sochi was only the beginning.

Even if it's almost the end of the road for Edney.

"I'm in a really good place mentally," he says. "I feel confident in my sliding, and I get to enjoy each race as I'm preparing to walk away from the sport and be done with it. A lot of athletes don't get to be in the position where they get to choose when they leave the sport. A lot of time, it's injury or politics or they've been cut from the team or whatever it is, and that's not the case for me.

"I feel really lucky that's where I get to be."