He has started training with the Canadian team, but luge athlete Alex Ferlazzo has his sights set on a record fourth Olympic Games appearance for Australia at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games.

The 28-year-old quips it’s nice to “be on both sides of the fence” and working with the Canadian luge squad in training, but he makes it clear where his loyalty will always lie when it comes to competition.

"It's surreal when everyone gets together and in the Aussie kit,” Ferlazzo says of representing Australia at the Olympic Games, “It's fantastic. I love it.”

Ferlazzo's unique and novel sporting story is that he grew up in Townsville, in far North Queensland, where it’s not unusual for temperatures to soar above 30 degrees celsius in winter. He took up luge at 15, by “luck of the draw” he explains, when his mum had a chance meeting in a pilates class with a former luge athlete who was spruiking the sport.

Ferlazzo lugged a wheeled training sled from Sydney to Townsville and started hurtling down the city’s iconic Mt Stuart.
This background is significant when you consider it in context of his new partnership with the Canadian luge squad. Over his athlete journey, Ferlazzo has gone from being somewhat of a sporting outlier to a highly respected competitor on the international circuit.

“I'm in partnership with the Canadian team now,” Ferlazzo says. “We’re working really well together, like the head coach and the sled builder in that team. We all get along, it's a fantastic relationship.

“It's a rebuild for myself, now training with them, but it's also rebuilding in their team and their Federation. So it's nice to be a part of that and be on both sides of the fence. I'm one of the old athletes in that group and that team. All the other athletes are young and I was brought over by the coach and sled tech, so it's nice to be on the athlete side and then also get a chance to see the coach’s and staff perspective too."

Australia’s first Olympic luge athlete, at the age of just 19, Ferlazzo has got better with every Games. He was 33rd in his Olympic debut, in Sochi 2014, 28th at PyeongChang 2018, then 16th in Beijing last year.

"It's tracking excellently,” Ferlazzo says of his start to this new Olympic cycle.

“The next world champs are in Altenburg, Germany [at the start of 2024] so that's the next big race for me. There's 10 World Cup races that I plan to go to next season and just keep it moving in the right general direction. The four year plan I wrote after the Games is going to plan at the moment, I’ve ticked all the boxes for the first part of the quad [four year Games cycle].”

Ferlazzo may be the first luge athlete from Far North Queensland, but he hopes he’s not the last. Last year he toured schools in Far North Queensland inspiring kids with his story.

“I was 15-years-old [when I took up the sport]. I was always up for an adventure, trying something new and also always quite athletic, and so it just kind of rolled on. I fell in love with the sport as soon as I tried it, and I’ve been pursuing it ever since.”

Three-time Olympian Alex Ferlazzo has competed 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.

Alex Ferlazzo has headed to Latvia for the first Luge World Cup event of 2023, finishing in 26th place.

Competing on the Sigulda track, the three-time Olympian was heading for a good first run and was ranked 12th halfway down, but unfortunately had a crash shortly after, putting him in 26th place.

Ferlazzo recovered well in his second run, with the 16th fastest time of the round, but was unable to improve his overall ranking.

The luge athletes will remain in Latvia for another week, with a second World Cup event to take place in Sigulda on January 14-15.

Alex 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.
The luge World Cup tour is now set for a three week break, resuming at Sigulda in Latvia on January 7.

Alex Ferlazzo has commenced his 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.

In the first run competing at the venue from the Vancouver 2010 Games, Ferlazzo had the ninth fastest run with a time of 50.159 seconds. In the second and final run, Ferlazzo recorded a time of 50.345 which moved him back into 11th place overall with a two run time of 1:40.504, recording a new personal best performance.

Ferlazzo will now head to Park City, USA, for the next round of World Cup competition scheduled to take place on December 16-17.