POTSDAM – USA Luge announced that Seth Coates of Potsdam will maintain his slot on the USA Luge Junior Candidate team for the 2023-24 season.
This will be his fourth season on the team. Coates was named to the Junior Development Team in 2020 and promoted to the Junior Candidate Team in the 2022-23 season.
“It was awesome to have the opportunity to train and compete internationally this year,” said Coates. “You really learn a lot about yourself. It’s easy to get caught up, mentally, when competing against others on a world stage. There’s a lot of pressure. I try to focus on myself and my own performance, on putting out my best effort. I had some great finishes this year and I’m proud of my first international race season.”
This past winter marked Coates’s first season of international competition. He trained and competed in three race circuits (European, Asian, and North American Continental Cups) across five countries (Latvia, Austria, Canada, USA, and South Korea). To wrap up the season, Coates competed in the Norton USA Luge Junior and Youth National Championships in Lake Placid in March 2023. He earned a silver medal and placed third overall in the two-race Youth A division, and placed 7th overall in the Junior division where he raced against 18 to 21 year old athletes.
Stakes are high for 15-year-old Coates for the upcoming season: only one or two men’s singles athletes from the U.S. team will compete at the Youth Olympic Games in January 2024. To qualify, sliders must take part in at least three international races, including at least one Youth A World Cup race in Germany in December 2023. Criteria for Team USA selection from the pool of qualified athletes have yet to be announced, but Coates hopes to be competitive.
“I know Seth has his short-term sights set on the Youth Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea and it will just be a matter of putting everything together on race days that will get him there and performing his best,”…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply