Midori Holland has had to wait her turn.
The Whistlerite has, for the past five or six years, grappled with a recurring back injury that prevented her from showcasing the extent of her talents. It hindered her path to the junior national luge team and tended to flare up at the most inopportune times. She was often sidelined for a month or more, unable to join races or the all-important training sessions.
2022 marked Holland’s return to international racing after a two-year absence. Understandably, she felt pressure to perform and remind the luge community of what she could do. That’s why she headed off to Winterberg, Germany…and promptly crashed in her season opener.
Luge is a sport where thousandths of a second matter. Yet that is also the reason why athletes should focus on their process and preparation instead of fixate on results that come down to microscopic margins. Holland realized this going into her second race in Altenberg last December, and the outcome?
Fourth place.
“It was a surprise to myself and everybody else in the program,” she said. “I was more focused just on things like training and learning and taking the most I could out of these experiences. We were expected to finish in maybe the 20s. Nobody was expecting results from any of our athletes over there last year, and so the fourth was really encouraging.”
Holland found her groove from that point forth, winning a pair of Continental Cups in Whistler and Park City, Utah. She also acquitted herself well during March’s Canadian Championships at home, placing sixth in the senior race and second among U21 athletes on the world’s fastest ice.
More recently, Holland added a bronze in Park City, Utah and another fourth place to her record at the FIL Junior Luge World Cup—again in Whistler. It was a suitable dress rehearsal for this weekend’s big-time World Cup on home ice.
Fast start
Holland’s family ties to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics led her into the sliding world. Her father Shane once worked for VANOC, the organizing committee for said Games, and her grandfather—a former luge official—wished for one of his grandkids to try the sport. As her cousins balked at the idea, eight-year-old Holland chose to take one for the team and get on a sled.
She hasn’t looked back since.
As a very active child, Holland grew up playing various sports from field hockey to swimming to soccer. She enjoys a competitive atmosphere, and her adventurous personality is a good fit for the speed and thrill of luge. Her parents, though supportive, were not excited to drive her from their North Vancouver home up Highway 99 six days a week for training.
That’s why Holland moved to Whistler at 14 years of age, bunking with a close family friend as she balanced school with athletics. The results began to come: she won the 2019 Canadian Youth Championships in Calgary and managed two top-10 Junior World Cup placements that same year.
Now with a clean bill of health, the 20-year-old is ready to make the most of her final junior season.
‘Super encouraging’
Luge Canada is deeper on the women’s side than the men’s at the moment. Pembertonian Olympian Trinity Ellis and World Cup veteran Brooke Apshkrum lead a roster that also includes the likes of Embyr-Lee Susko, Carolyn Maxwell, Kailey Allan and Caitlin Nash—the latter of which joined Natalie Corless in winning the first World Cup women’s doubles medal in Canadian history.
Holland has a valuable opportunity to insert herself into the mix.
“I'm so proud of them and everything they've been able to accomplish,” said Holland. “It definitely encourages me to see them up there, knowing that I'm not that far behind them. Their races are in the middle of the night when I'm at home, but I still wake up and watch them. Our team is so young and we all grew up sliding together.”
Holland hasn’t had a home race outside of nationals since she was 15, which makes her all the more excited for the upcoming senior World Cup. She, like her teammates, knows the local track well and is confident going into the season.
The homegrown athlete wants to emphasize how much the Whistler Sliding Centre (WSC) has meant to her development.
“I don't think if I had been in a different program, I would have ended up where I am today,” Holland said. “The staff at the Sliding Centre is incredible.I've known a good chunk of them since I was eight and they've watched me grow up. Adam Snow, who doesn’t work there anymore, ran the kids camps and was a big part of my early career.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn't scared sometimes, especially when I was younger, but the track crew is always super encouraging. They go above and beyond to make it a super positive environment for the kids, and the track is one of the best in the world.”
The FIL Luge World Cup takes place Dec. 15 and 16 in Whistler. Learn more at https://www.whistlerslidingcentre.com/whats-on/event-calendar/eberspacher-luge-world-cup
