Reid WATTS

Canada

Luge

Date of Birth: 22 Dec 1998

Age: 23

Gender: Male

Place of birth: VANCOUVER, BC

Birth Country:

Canada

Residence: WHISTLER, BC

Residence Country:

Canada

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
General Interest
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Luge	Men's Singles	17

Schedule

Start Time	Location	Event	Status
	Yanqing National Sliding Centre	Men's Singles Training Group B Run 1	Finished
After Run 1	Yanqing National Sliding Centre	Men's Singles Training Group B Run 2	Finished
	Yanqing National Sliding Centre	Men's Singles Training Group B Run 3	Finished
After Run 3	Yanqing National Sliding Centre	Men's Singles Training Group B Run 4	Finished
	Yanqing National Sliding Centre	Men's Singles Training Run 5	Finished
	Yanqing National Sliding Centre	Men's Singles Training Run 6	Finished
	Yanqing National Sliding Centre	Men's Singles Run 1	Finished
	Yanqing National Sliding Centre	Men's Singles Run 2	Finished
	Yanqing National Sliding Centre	Men's Singles Run 3	Finished
	Yanqing National Sliding Centre	Men's Singles Run 4	Finished
	Yanqing National Sliding Centre	Team Relay Training Men	Finished
	Yanqing National Sliding Centre	Team Relay Competition	Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

Athlete:

Historical Results

Olympic Games
Rank	Event	Year	Location	Result
12	Men's Singles	2018	PyeongChang, KOR	00:03:11.490

Youth Olympic Games
Rank	Event	Year	Location	Result
3	Singles	2016	Lillehammer, NOR	00:01:35.994
4	Team Relay	2016	Lillehammer, NOR	00:02:53.549

World Championships
Rank	Event	Year	Location	Result
5	Team Relay	2019	Winterberg, GER	2:24.875
13	Men's Singles Sprint	2019	Winterberg, GER	36.178
18	Men's Singles	2021	Koenigssee, GER	1:39.122
18	Men's Singles	2019	Winterberg, GER	1:45.270
26	Men's Singles	2017	Innsbruck, AUT	50.455
29	Men's Singles	2016	Koenigssee, GER	51.404

U23 World Championships
Rank	Event	Year	Location	Result
4	Men's Singles	2021	Koenigssee, GER	1:39.122
4	Men's Singles	2019	Winterberg, GER	1:45.270

World Cup Rankings
Season	Men's Singles
2021/22	26
2020/21	44
2019/20	26
2018/19	26
2017/18	30
2016/17	34
2015/16	45

Ten Best World Cup Performances in Current Season
Rank	Event	Season	Location
16	Men's Singles	2021/22	Yanqing, CHN
20	Men's Singles	2021/22	Altenberg, GER
22	Men's Singles	2021/22	Innsbruck, AUT
22	Men's Singles	2021/22	Sochi, RUS
23	Men's Singles	2021/22	St. Moritz, SUI
26	Men's Singles	2021/22	Winterberg, GER
27	Men's Singles	2021/22	Oberhof, GER
31	Men's Singles	2021/22	Sigulda, LAT

Hobbies:

Road cycling, mountain biking, skiing.

Occupation:

Athlete

Family:

Father, Jim Watts. Mom, Suzanne Thomas.

Languages spoken:

English

Club name:

British Columbia Luge Association

Coach:

National: Wolfgang Staudinger (GER)

Sporting relatives:

Father Jim Watts (Luge): Director for Luge Canada.

Debut:

2016 World Cup in Sigulda (Singles - 32nd)

National team:

2017

Start:

Took up the sport at age nine after watching a bobsleigh race at his hometown track in Whistler, BC just prior to it hosting the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. After begging his mom to take him back to the track, she signed him up for a recruitment camp. "I took my first run at the recruitment camp and I knew that’s where I had to be." (luge.ca, 2021; olympic.ca, 2018; slidingonice.com, 27 July 2020)

Reason:

"Just like everyone in the sport, the speed drew me in." (cbc.ca, 27 Feb 2020)

Ambition:

To vie for a medal at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. (CBC Vancouver YouTube, 28 Feb 2020)

To place in the top-12 in races more consistently. (piquenewsmagazine, 10 Dec 2020)

Memorable:

Finishing 12th in his Olympic debut at PyeongChang in 2018. "There’s nothing quite like racing at the Olympics. When I woke up the day of the race, there was just this feeling of, “Hey, this is it” and it was so much more different than your average race-day nerves. It was something so much bigger, but it was such a good feeling going into it. It was so big and to be able to throw down my best four runs ever and still my best race to date was nothing short of amazing! Nothing like that can compare." (slidingonice.com, 27 July 2020)

Hero:

Mixed-martial artist Conor McGregor (IRL), former Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight and lightweight double-champion. (olympic.ca, 2018)

Influence:

His parents. (Info 2018)

Ritual:

Wears socks from Whistler Bike Co. when competing. (olympic.ca, 2018)

General Interest

WHISTLER LEGACY ATHLETE
Considered to be one of the 'legacy athletes' of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver after taking up luge in 2008 at the Whistler Sliding Centre, built specifically for the Games. Prior to 2010, most Canadian lugers came from and were based in Calgary, Alberta. He is the first Whistler luge athlete to represent Canada at the Olympic Winter Games (2018). "The Whistler Sliding Centre needs a lot of credit for my success. That facility has been unreal. It is such a great track. It is always in race-ready conditions which has helped me immensely to perform at the highest level during my training." (Info 2018)

COVID-19
Due to the global pandemic lockdown he lived and trained at the Whistler Sliding Centre on his home track in a controlled bubble. He successfully defended his Canadian Championship title at the Sliding Centre in December 2020, in what marked his first official race of the 2020-21 season. "I haven’t had this many runs on my home track in probably over six years. It’s been a really busy last seven weeks of just high volume training out here and trying out a lot of new [equipment,] but it’s good to finally get the race bib on and get into the racing atmosphere again." (piquenewsmagazine.com, 10 Dec 2020)

Milestones

OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Finished 12th in singles at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. "To have some of my four best runs ever when it really mattered. I was struggling with consistency throughout the World Cup season and to have four consistent runs on such a tough track was all I wanted." (piquenewsmagazine.com, 11 Feb 2018)

In 2016, won Canada's first Winter Youth Olympic Games medal with a bronze in singles at Lillehammer (fourth in mixed team relay, 0.109 seconds from bronze).

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Has two top-30 results at the World Championships (2016, 2017), competed at the U23 Junior World Championships (2019), was14th twice at the Junior World Championships (2015, 2016), and 20th at the 2014 Youth World Championships.

WORLD CUP
Consistently finishes in the top-20 on the World Cup circuit (best of 15th in 2019 in Calgary), and in the top-10 in the team relay.

Social Media

Legend

:: Gold Medal Event

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