The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • C7

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1 1 2 0 2 1 C7 STAN STAFF As there are only two luge courses in the United States, the Luge Slider Search came to McGovern Elementary School in Medway, looking for interested athletes, age 9-13. mother, Krista DiGregorio, smil- ing. Only a luge mom knows the angst of watching her son speed down a banked ice track at 88 miles per hour while lying on his back and gazing up toward the heavens. Krista says. was explaining to anoth- er mother that as you get better and better at luge, to be aerody- namic, your head has to be fully back, so you see where going.

These athletes have to memorize the track if you make one tiny mistake, all At the 2017 junior nationals in Lake Placid, DiGregorio was moments away from victory on his final run when he flipped his sled, ripped his sledding suit, and skidded for about aminute. Twenty-two family members were nearby, but see him because the track was cov- ered by a curtain to protect the ice from sunmelt. heard him cry out in pain and it was the worst feeling in Krista says. get ice burns that are not was not badly hurt, mostly just says DiGregorio. Krista says her son has a urally calm chill He says he loves adrenaline rush and the That helps make him an elite athlete in the only sliding sport that measures time in thou- sandths of a second.

He has won a slew of awards, including a silver medal in the Junior World Cup in Germany and three top-10 results in 2019- 20. DiGregorio has traveled abroad since he was 14, doing remote learning through his sophomore year at Medway High (where he played lacrosse) and then enrolled in an online school. He has toured the sites teen- agers learn about in world histo- ry: Auschwitz in Poland, Nest in the Bavarian Alps, and the old Soviet bunkers in Latvia. DiGregorio spent this sum- mer lifting weights and practic- ing the all-important handle pull start on the new refrigerated ramps at USA Luge in Lake Plac- id. upper-body strength and explosiveness.

very demand- ing he says. He spent time training in Russia and has begun compet- ing on the World Cup circuit in doubles. USA Luge will name its Olympic team in early January. uLUGE Continued from Page C1 The sport can be dangerous, and DiGregorio is well aware. Georgian luger Nodar Kumar- itashvili died after a crash on the opening day of the 2010 Vancou- ver Olympics.

DiGregorio says everything he does is a calculated risk. say he says. risk my body too At the local slider search, safety is key. All the kids wear helmets and start slowly. If they feel comfortable, they will then move back and start from a 5- foot high portable ramp.

The kids are surprised that merely turning their heads helps them steer. They are even more surprised that there are no brakes. Aidan Kelly, the USA Luge head of development, says there is only one rule here. you are nervous, scared, or if you are worried you need to put your feet down and says Kelly. we all agree with that rule? We want you to get Today everyone tries the ramp, and their initial appre- hension turns to joy.

Several yel- low cones dotting the course get kissed, but no one gets so much as a scraped knee. Kelly, in the midst of the nine-stop recruiting tour, tells them if they are not selected, to try, try again. It took him three tryouts before he was finally picked. He even competed in the 2014 Sochi Olympics (finishing 24th). He says theOpening Cere- monies weremagical.

one of the few things in life that will ever live up to the Now he grades the newbies. Cam Lavery, 9, of Franklin scores an attitude of 10, and a fear factor of zero. was really scared at first but by the end it was really says Lavery. The United States has plenty of catching up to do in the Olym- pic medals race. Germany domi- nates the sport with 81 medals since it became an Olympic sport in 1964.

been doing this since they came out of the said American slider Kate Hansen at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The United States has won six medals in luge and Chris Mazdzer, born in Pittsfield, won the silver in PyeongChang in 2018. Earlier this month, DiGrego- rio teamed with Sean Hollander to win the doubles crown at Lake Placid. In doubles, one slider is lying face up on top of another and the twomust work as one. He says critics can be as sharp as the gloves that grip into the ice to accelerate at the start.

up people would say, are you doing such a weird Or only do- ing this to get to the DiGregorio says. I love the sport and no other end goal to a sport like luge than to go to the Olympics. not like I can make it in track and He hopes to compete in the Beijing 2022 Olympics. He al- ready feels blessed. day wearing stuff that says on he says.

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Stan Grossfeld can be reached at stanley.grossfeld@globe.com. Uphill path for future Olympic luge racers STAN STAFF Many adventurous youths went for a ride when the cross-country USA Luge slider search came to McGovern Elementary School in Medway in September. love the sport and no other end goal to a sport like luge than to go to the ZACK DIGREGORIO, US Luge national teammember COURTESY DIGREGORIO FAMILY Zack DiGregorio (left) got started in luge when he went to a Slider Search in Carlisle in 2012 with brother Rob (right)..