Alex Ferlazzo

ALEX FERLAZZO

Sport: Luge
DOB: 03/04/1995
Place of Birth: Townsville, QLD
Place of Residence: Townsville, QLD
OWIA Athlete Performance Contract Commenced: 2022

Personal Best Results:

Olympic Winter Games - 16th, Beijing, CHN, 2022
World Championships - 24th, Innsbruck, AUT, 2017
World Cup - 11th, Whistler, CAN, 2022

Note: current as @ 18/01/2023

Olympic Winter Games Attended

2014 - Sochi, Russia
2018 - PyeongChang, Korea
2022 - Beijing, China

BIOGRAPHY

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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.