Tristan WALKER

PARTNER
Canada's existing juniors doubles team broke up at the end of 2007. Due to their compatible sizes, Walker and partner Justin Snith inherited the role. In their first Junior World Cup event in Park City, Utah in 2008, they won the bronze medal.

In early 2009, the pair placed a surprising second at the Canadian Championships, which prompted their early debut on the senior World Cup tour to see if they could secure an Olympic berth. Three top-20 results in as many races secured their spot at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games at age 18, the youngest luge team in the Olympic field and to ever represent Canada. "The original plan was to take us to the first three races on the senior circuit and then send us to junior for the second half of the season. No one expected us to qualify. " (olympic.ca, 2018; luge.ca, 10 Feb 2010; Team Canada Twitter, 14 Feb 2018, slidingonice.com, 17 Aug 2020)

PILOT'S LICENSE
Began studying for his commercial helicopter license in the summer of 2019. His grandfather Len Bolger served as a test pilot for the Royal Canadian Air Force in the 1950s and 1960s. That started his passion for aviation and would have followed his grandfather's footsteps if not for his athletic career. "I grew up building model airplanes and kind of immersed in that aviation thing. That’s how I ended up landing — pun intended — on wanting to become a helicopter pilot.” (calgarysun.com, 21 Oct 2019)

In early 2019, he reached out to the Snowbirds, Canada's air demonstration squadron, who welcomed him and Snith and their Olympic silver medal on a promotional flight. “It was one of the best experiences... ever. We were in formation the whole time. We didn’t do that many aerobatic manoeuvres, but we got to do one high-G, hard loop at the end of it.”

With the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games being his last, he intends to go into a career in aviation. "I know the first bit of building up those hours is a grind to get those senior pilot jobs, so I think I’ll have to start like most people flying tours, bucketing fires, taking skiers up into the mountains and things like that." (slidingonice.com, 17 Aug 2020)

CHARITY "SPONSORS"
In late 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the tandem lost their primary sponsor just before joining the World Cup tour in Europe for the second half of the 2020/21 season. They did not feel comfortable seeking a new sponsor during this time so they decided to use the space on their sled and bodies to promote non-profit organizations that could benefit from some free marketing and promoted four charities near to their hearts - one at each remaining event on the calendar.

They showcased the Cochrane [Alberta, Canada] & Area Humane Society (where Walker's family has adopted pets); STARS Air Ambulance (helicopter-based emergency service for rural communities that once saved the life of one of Walker's friends); the Downie Wenjack Fund (organisation that "aims to build cultural understanding and create a path toward reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples) and the Kvisle Fund for GBM (supporting care and treatment for those affected by Glioblastoma Multiforme brain cancer, with Snith having a connection to the founding family).

“We’re lucky enough and fortunate enough to still have a couple of races to compete in this year. There’s some sports that aren’t getting that opportunity. So I think for us to capitalize on that and get these charities' names out there evenmore, is perfect for us.” (calgarysun.com, 21 Dec 2020; downiewenjack.ca; stars.ca; kvislefundforgbm.ca; ctvnews.ca, 21 Dec 2020

FROM FOURTH TO BRONZE TO FOURTH
In response to systemic doping abuses by the host nation at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, Snith and Walker, as well as teammates Sam Edney and Alex Gough, were poised to receive the Sochi relay bronze medal in December 2017 after the disqualification of the second-place Russians and implicated members Albert Demchenko and Tatiana Ivanova. However, in February 2018, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the Russians' disqualification due to insufficient evidence, leaving Canada again in fourth position. Less than two weeks later, their relay team won silver outright on the track in South Korea. (ctvnews.ca, 22 Dec 2017; thestar.com, 5 Feb 2018)

© Data by Sports Data Warehouse

OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Placed fourth at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games - the best Canadian doubles finish to date - 0.05 seconds behind bronze medallists Andris Sics/Juris Sics from Latvia. The following day, their relay team with Alex Gough and Samuel Edney also placed fourth, again behind Latvia, 0.1 seconds off the podium.

At the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, won Canada's second-ever luge medal, a silver in the team relay with Alex Gough and Sam Edney, just two days after Gough won Canada's first Olympic luge medal, a bronze.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
The team's fourth-place finish at the World Championships in Whistler, BC. in 2013 is the highest doubles placing for a Canadian team. The duo was less than .08 seconds behind third-place Austrians Andreas Linger/Wolfgang Linger.

As part of the relay, the tandem won four straight World Championships medals from 2012 to 2016 (three bronze and one silver in 2013).

WORLD CUP
Became the first Canadian doubles team to record a podium finish with a bronze medal at Koenigssee in January 2014.