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West, 20, won the U23 Gold Medal and finished sixth overall of the Luge World Championships held in Koenigssee, Germany, over the weekend in snowy and rainy conditions.
West's combined times in his four runs was 1:40.181, just 1.317 minutes off the leader, according to statistics from Team USA.
“It was not a focus of mine, per se, but it was always in the back of your mind,” West told Team USA of the U23 victory. “You know the race is there. Obviously the main focus was to do well in worlds. This was kind of a cherry on top.”
West, who was among the least experienced of the contenders, struggled in training on the difficult course, damaging his sled and helmet in a crash, Team USA said.
“Training for me this week was very, very tough,” he told Team USA. “I don’t think I had a single good run. So mentally I was pretty shocked going into this race. I was really frustrated coming in, but today I was able to channel that frustration into something productive. I was able to put together two decent runs and even have two first place starts. All in all, it was good.”
This winter, West won two medals in the series of Luge World Cup races.
His USA teammate, Chris Mazdzer came in fourth overall in the world championships, which was won by Germany's Felix Loch. Also, Summer Britcher of Team USA won a silver in the women’s U23 competition.
Click here to read more about the championships at the Team USA website.
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