Pierre Lueders

Last updated

Pierre Lueders
Lueders.jpg
Lueders at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin
Personal information
Full namePierre Lueders
Nationality Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canadian
Born (1970-09-26) 26 September 1970 (age 53)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Height1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight101 kg (223 lb)
Sport
CountryFlag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
SportBobsleigh pictogram.svg Bobsleigh
Retired2010
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals Olympic rings.svg Gold medal icon.svgSilver medal icon.svg
Medal record
Men's Bobsleigh
Representing Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Olympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1998 Nagano Two-man
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2006 Turin Two-man
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2004 Königssee Two-man
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2005 Calgary Two-man
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1995 Winterberg Two-man
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1996 Calgary Two-man
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2003 Lake Placid Two-man
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2007 St. Moritz Four-man
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1999 Cortina d'Ampezzo Four-man
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2005 Calgary Four-man

Pierre Fritz Lueders (born 26 September 1970) is a Canadian Olympic, world and World Cup champion bobsledder who competed from 1990 to 2010. He piloted both two-man and four-man bobsleigh, retiring after the 2010 Winter Olympics. He was named to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. [1]

Contents

Biography

Lueders grew up in Edmonton and went to Winterburn School for elementary and junior high. He attended Jasper Place High School for grades 10 through 12.

Competitive career

Originally a decathlete, in 1989 he switched to bobsleigh on the advice of a cousin who was a sportswriter in what was then East Germany, who suggested his build was better suited to the latter sport. Beginning as a brakeman and progressing rapidly, he became a pilot by 1991 and in 1992 won the first World Cup race he entered. [2]

A five-time Olympian, Lueders is the most decorated slider in Canadian history. He was the pilot of the Canadian two-man bobsleigh (teamed with Dave MacEachern) that won the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics (shared with the Italian duo of Günther Huber and Antonio Tartaglia). This was only Canada's second-ever medal in bobsleigh, and the first since Vic Emery led his four-man crew to victory in 1964. Lueders and MacEachern ended their partnership shortly after the 1998 Games, with MacEachern attempting to make the transition to competing as a pilot in his own right: Lueders subsequently teamed up with Ken Leblanc and Giulio Zardo. [3] At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Lueders placed a disappointing fifth-place finish in two-man, and ninth in four-man, causing him to take the 2002–03 season off in four-man. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, in the two-man event, he and his brakeman Lascelles Brown won silver despite having to contend with heavy snowfall.

Lueders also won eight medals at the FIBT World Championships with two golds (Two-man: 2004, 2005), four silvers (Two-man: 1995, 1996, 2003; Four-man: 2007), and two bronzes (Four-man: 1999, 2005).

In the Bobsleigh World Cup, Lueders won the combined men's event four times (1993-4, 1994–5, 1997–8, 2005-6), the two-man event a record six times (1993-4, 1994–5, 1996–7, 1997–8, 2002–3, 2005-6), and the four-man event once (1994-5). Pierre Lueders has won 88 career medals in the Bobsleigh World Cup. [4]

Lueders and his brakeman Justin Kripps made the first run down the Whistler Sliding Centre, a facility built for the 2010 Winter Olympics, on 19 December 2007. Turn 7 at the Sliding Centre, "Lueders Loop", is named in his honor after he crashed out his sled during the track's homologation in March 2008, his first crash since the 2001 Goodwill Games.

In 2010, he finished 5th in the two-man bobsleigh race. He finish 5th in the four-man bobsleigh.

Coaching career

Lueders retired after the Vancouver Games and was named as a national bobsleigh team development coach. He left the job in May 2012, saying he wanted a break from the sport after 22 years as an athlete and coach. [5]

However just over a week later Lueders was appointed head coach of the Russian national bobsleigh team [6] that would go on to win two gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. He left his position as Russia coach in June 2016. [7]

In October 2017 he became caretaker head coach for the Republic of Korea's bobsleigh team ahead of their campaign on home ice at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. [8] In the four-man bodsleigh event, the Koreans consisting of Won Yun-jong (pilot), Seo Young-woo, Jun Jung-lin and Kim Dong-hyun tied with one of the German teams for the silver medal, the first Olympic medal won by an Asian bobsleigh team. [9] [10]

Personal life

As of 1997, Lueders resides in Calgary, Alberta. Outside of bobsledding, Lueders joined Sotheby's International Realty as an associate in Calgary in January 2017. [7]

Results

World Cup Championships

RankSeasonEvent
Gold medal icon.svg1993–94Two-man
Gold medal icon.svg1993–94Combined
Gold medal icon.svg1994–95Two-man
Gold medal icon.svg1994–95Four-man
Gold medal icon.svg1994–95Combined
Gold medal icon.svg1996–97Two-man
Gold medal icon.svg1997–98Combined
Gold medal icon.svg1997–98Two-man
Gold medal icon.svg2002–03Two-man
Gold medal icon.svg2005–06Combined
Gold medal icon.svg2005–06Two-man
Silver medal icon.svg1995–96Combined
Silver medal icon.svg1995–96Two-man
Silver medal icon.svg2001–02Two-man
Silver medal icon.svg2003–04Combined
Silver medal icon.svg2003–04Two-man
Silver medal icon.svg2004–05Two-man
Silver medal icon.svg 2006–07 Two-man
Silver medal icon.svg2005-06Four-man
Silver medal icon.svg 2006–07 Combined
Bronze medal icon.svg1996–97Combined
Bronze medal icon.svg1998–99Combined
Bronze medal icon.svg1998–99Two-man
Bronze medal icon.svg1999–00Combined
Bronze medal icon.svg1999–00Four-man
Bronze medal icon.svg2004–05Combined
Bronze medal icon.svg2004–05Four-man

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martins Dukurs</span> Latvian skeleton racer

Martins Dukurs is a former Latvian skeleton racer, currently a coach, who has competed since 1998. He is a six-time world champion in men's skeleton, a double Olympic silver winner, and the athlete with the most World Cup titles with a total of 11, having won eight consecutive titles between 2010 and 2017, plus another three consecutive titles between 2020 and 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lascelles Brown</span> Jamaican-born Canadian bobsledder

Lascelles Brown is a Jamaican-born Canadian bobsledder who has competed for three countries since starting his career in 1999. Competing in three Winter Olympics, he is the first Jamaican-born athlete to win a Winter Olympic medal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">André Lange</span> German bobsledder (born 1973)

André Lange is a retired German bobsledder and one of the most successful bob pilots of all time. Competing at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics, he has won four gold and one silver medals. Lange originally started his sledding career as a luger, taking up bobsleigh in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Lamparter</span> Swiss bobsledder

Thomas Lamparter is a Swiss former bobsledder who has competed since 2002. Competing in three Winter Olympics, he won a bronze medal in the four-man event at Turin in 2006 as part of the crew of Martin Annen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandr Zubkov</span> Russian bobsledder (born 1974)

Alexandr Yuryevich Zubkov is a Russian retired bobsledder who has competed since 1999. Competing in four Winter Olympics, he won two medals with a silver in 2006 (four-man) and a bronze in 2010 (two-man). On 24 November 2017, he was found guilty of doping offences and stripped of his medals from the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Günther Huber is an Italian bobsledder who competed in the 1990s. Before taking up bobsledding, he had originally started his sporting career in luge, with his most notable result being a third place in doubles in the 1982 World Junior Luge Championships: he switched to bobsleigh in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonio Tartaglia</span> Italian bobsledder

Antonio Tartaglia is an Italian bobsledder who competed in the 1990s. He came to the sport from athletics, having focused on the shot put and discus. He took up bobsledding after joining the Carabinieri, and represented Centro Sportivo Carabinieri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christoph Langen</span> German bobsledder (born 1962)

Christoph Langen is a German bobsledder who competed for the West Germany and Germany national team from 1985 to 2005. In his four Winter Olympics, he won four medals; two golds and two bronzes.

Jesse Lumsden is a Canadian Olympic and world champion bobsledder and a retired Canadian football player, who played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders.

The IBSF World Championships, part of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, have taken place on an annual basis since 1930. Starting with 2002, no World Championships being held in non-Winter Olympic years. A two-man event was included in 1931 with a combined championship occurring in 1947. Men's skeleton was introduced as a championship of its own in 1982 while women's bobsleigh and skeleton events were introduced in 2000. Both the women's bobsleigh and skeleton events were merged with the men's bobsleigh events at the 2004 championships. A mixed team event, consisting of one run each of men's skeleton, women's skeleton, 2-man bobsleigh, and 2-women bobsleigh, was held from 2007 to 2019. In 2020 it was replaced with skeleton mixed team event, consisting of one run each of men's and women's skeleton. Women's monobob event was included in 2021.

David "Eli" MacEachern was a two-sport athlete from Canada. He was a Canadian bobsledder who competed in the 1990s. Competing in three Winter Olympics, he and Pierre Lueders won the gold medal in the two-man event at Nagano in 1998. He was also a soccer player that competed at the university level as well as national competitions. He was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daumants Dreiškens</span> Latvian bobsledder

Daumants Dreiškens is a Latvian bobsledder, brakeman, who has competed since 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Kripps</span> Canadian bobsledder

Justin Kripps is a Canadian bobsledder and an Olympic champion in two-man bobsleigh following his gold medal win at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Kripps won a silver medal in the two-man event at the 2017 World Championships and a bronze in the mixed team event at the 2012 World Championships. He has competed in the sport since 2006 and has many World Cup podiums. During the 2017–18 Bobsleigh World Cup, he finished the season first in the two-man and overall, to win the Crystal Globe as overall champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyndon Rush</span> Canadian bobsledder

Lyndon Rush is a Canadian retired bobsledder who has competed since 2004. Rush took up bobsleigh after spending five years playing Canadian football for the University of Saskatchewan. He initially trained as a brakeman before switching to driving due to a hamstring injury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Spring</span> Australian-born Canadian bobsledder

Christopher Spring is an Australian-Canadian 4 x Olympic bobsledder who has competed since 2008. At the 2010 Winter Olympics, he competed for Australia in the two-man event. He switched allegiance to Canada later in 2010 and has since competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics, 2018 Winter Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics for Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arvis Vilkaste</span> Latvian bobsledder

Arvis Vilkaste is a Latvian bobsledder, brakeman who has competed since 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jānis Strenga</span> Latvian bobsledder

Janis Strenga is a former Latvian bobsledder, brakeman who has competed since 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Won Yun-jong</span> South Korean bobsledder

Won Yun-jong is a South Korean bobsledder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seo Young-woo</span> South Korean bobsledder

Seo Young-woo is a South Korean bobsledder who competes as the brakeman for the two-man bobsled piloted by Won Yun-jong as well as a push crewman for the four-man bobsled also piloted by Won Yun-jong.

Jun Jung-lin is a South Korean bobsledder who competes as the brakeman for the two-man bobsled piloted by Kim Dong-hyun as well as a push crewman for the four-man bobsled piloted by Won Yun-jong.

References

  1. "Canadian Sports Hall adds Lueders, Niedermayer, others". CBC Sports. 19 April 2012.
  2. Michael Farber (4 February 1998). "1998 Nagano Olympics [Preview] – Pierre Lueders". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 11 February 2001.
  3. Snyder, Lorraine (22 February 2018). "Pierre Lueders". The Canadian Encyclopedia . Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  4. Jurmain, Jeff (18 November 2008). "Lueders Leads Canada into Bobsleigh World Cup Season". Canadian Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 13 March 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  5. "Pierre Lueders leaves national bobsled team". CBC News. 24 May 2012.
  6. Perry, Rod (4 June 2012). "Pierre Lueders joining Russian bobsleigh team as head coach". cbc.ca . Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  7. 1 2 "Pierre Lueders". LinkedIn . Retrieved 9 November 2017.[ permanent dead link ]
  8. "Olympic Champion Pierre Lueders coach in Korea". International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation . 12 October 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  9. "Yonhap News Agency".
  10. "[PyeongChang 2018] S. Korea's 4-man bobsleigh team goes from underdog to silver medal winner". 25 February 2018.