ALEX FERLAZZO
Olympic Winter Games Attended
BIOGRAPHY
Born and raised in the tropical North Queensland city of Townsville, Alex Ferlazzo took up luge in 2010 after his mum's friend suggested it to him. Alex hit the ice for the first time on a natural track in Naseby, New Zealand before heading to an Olympic standard track in Lake Placid, USA.
Two years after starting in the sport he competed at the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria. Alex finished 19th overall. He went on to make his Olympic debut at Sochi 2014, making him Australia’s fourth luge Olympian in history and only the second male after Roger White at Lillehammer 1994. Alex finished 33rd in a highly competitive field with older and more experienced athletes. Following his debut Alex made history when he won gold at the 2014 Junior World Championships in Canada, securing Australia’s first ever luge medal in these world championships. At the 2017 U23 World Championships in Austria Alex secured eighth place, to pair with coming 24th at an Olympic test event in Pyeongchang. He finished the 2016-17 season ranked 28th in the world. In his second Olympic Games at PyeongChang 2018 he finished 28th in the men’s singles, Australia’s best ever men’s luge result. Alex opened with his fastest run but was unable to hold the pace in his second and third runs. He went on to finish sixth at the 2018-19 U23 World Championships in Germany and 27th at the 2019 World Championships in Russia. After 16 months away from luge competition, Alex enjoyed a successful return for the 2021-22 World Cup season and Olympic qualifying events. As a 26-year-old at Beijing 2022 Alex became Australia's first ever luge triple Olympian, surpassing Hannah Campbell-Pegg. Alex showed his class with two quick runs on the final day of competition. A scorching final run secured him a 16th place finish on combined times, Australia's best ever Olympic result in luge. "I am ecstatic, it's been a hell of a season. To put that final run down at the Olympics, I'm on top of the world," Alex said. Ferlazzo has commenced the 2022-2023 World Cup season in style, recording a personal best 11th place finish at the World Cup event in Whistler, Canada. The three-time Olympian warmed up for the event with a third place finish in the Nations Cup event on the same course a few days prior, and carried that form over to the World Cup. The following week Ferlazzo has continued his great start to the season, with a strong week of competition in Park City, USA. The three-time Olympian matched his previous best World Cup luge result of 11th from the week before, finishing 0.64 seconds behind winner Dominik Fischnaller of Italy. Times from the event used for to rank the American-Pacific Championships, with Ferlazzo finishing in third place. A sprint World Cup luge event also took place the following day, with Ferlazzo recording yet another personal best performance, with an impressive sixth place finish. At the 2023 FIL World Championships in Oberhof, Germany, taking part in the sprint and singles events. Ferlazzo made a strong start to the event, qualifying for the 15-man sprint final in 13th place. In the sprint final, Ferlazzo finished in 14th place in a time of 34.137 seconds, just 0.593 seconds behind Felix Loch of Germany in first place. The result was a personal best finish for Ferlazzo at the World Championships, with his previous best being a 24th in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2017. In the singles event, Ferlazzo was having a solid run sitting in 13th place at the midway point of his run, but unfortunately crashed shortly after, sliding across the line in 29th place which ended his competition. In the 2023-2024 season, Ferlazzo had a career best year, with several personal best performances which were also Australian records. Ferlazzo created history at the FIL World Championships in Altenberg, Germany, recording Australia's best Luge result with an impressive fifth place finish. In run one Ferlazzo had the seventh fastest first run in 54.338 seconds, and in the second and final run finished in 54.440 which was the sixth fastest of all sliders. His two-run time came to 1:48.805 seconds, placing him fifth fastest of all competitors, 0.992 seconds behind event winner Max Langenhan of Germany on 1:47.813, with Austrian Nico Gleirscher of Austria in second with Felix Loch, another German in third. He also had a World Cup personal best, finishing in eighth place at the FIL World Cup event in Sigulda, Latvia. The result improves on his previous best of tenth, which he recorded earlier in the season in Whistler, Canada. Ferlazzo had the 11th fastest time in the opening round in a time of 48.557 seconds, and then improved significantly in run two to have the sixth fastest time of the round, finishing in a time of 48.023 seconds. Ferlazzo finished the season ranked a personal best 14th on the men's singles standings, the best end of year ranking by an Australian. Q & AChildhood Ambition:
Go fast Proudest Moment: Coming up the outrun on my fourth and final run at the 2022 Olympics knowing id just thrown down an incredible run with all my loved ones watching. I began this sport .... Because it's completely different from all other sports in my community and i liked to go fast. Participation in other sports: I played soccer for my entire childhood. Favourite overseas competition and why: Park City, Utah! Awesome location with the track to match. There's a super technical section at the top that often makes it so anyone could win. Sports Hero: Armin Zoeggeler ITA - 6x Luge Olympic medalist When I am not training/competing I am: napping, reading or having a scroll Highest level of education achieved: High School LINKSOWIA News Search: Additional Links:
|
INDIVIDUAL ATHLETES
INDIVIDUAL ATHLETES |
|
|
|
