This kid tried the luge track in his hometown before the 2010 Olympics. Now he's on Team Canada - Action News
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This kid tried the luge track in his hometown before the 2010 Olympics. Now he's on Team Canada

Reid Watts was inspired to try luge in the lead-up to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Now he's an Olympic competitor in the sport himself.

Reid Watts first tried luge more than a decade ago in hometown of Whistler, B.C.

Canadian luger Reid Watts, 21, competed in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games, and is hoping to qualify for the next winter Olympics. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)

The first time Reid Watts barrelled down the track on a luge at the Whistler Sliding Centre, his life changed course.

He was nine years old andthe centre had just been built in his hometown in preparation for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

"Just like everyone in the sport, the speed drew me in," Watts said.

Fast-forward to today, and Watts is living the dream he started envisioning that first day on the track, travelling the world as an Olympic luge athleteon Canada's national team.

"It's a dream come true, really. Ever since I was nine years old and I was first shown to the sport, I knew that's where I had to be," he said.

A young Reid Watts at the Whistler Sliding Centre in 2009 before his career in luge took off. (Jim Watts)

Luge parents

Many parents might cringe at their child zooming rapidly on ice with little protection aside from a helmet, rubberized suit, and gloves with tiny spikes in the fingertips for traction.

Kids glide down the smooth ice track on an open-air sled around 70 kilometres per hour. For adults, speeds can reach 150 kilometres per hour.

"The craziest part about going down is the g-force you're hitting in some of these tight corners," Watts said. "It's a real flow state."

Reid Watts competing in the Viessman Luge World Cup in Whistler in December 2019. (Dietmar Reker/Luge Canada)

It can be lethally dangerous, too.

Few can forget the devastation when Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died in a horrific crash in an Olympic training run at Whistler, B.C., just hours before the Games opening ceremony.

But the risk didn't stop Watts or his parents, who saw early on that their only child had caught the bug for luge.

"The excitement every day for him to go back to the track and slide was something else," said dad Jim Watts.

Canadian luger Reid Watts, left, and his father Jim Watts are pictured with a junior luge sled in Whistler. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)

They enrolled him in a training program at the sliding centre more than a decade ago.

"With the speed comes the risk and that's why we all like it," Reid Watts said.

In 2016, Watts went on to win Canada's first bronze in luge at the Winter Youth Olympic Games and thencompeted in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, finishing twelfth in the men's single event.

Canadian luger Reid Watts won bronze in the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics and a at the 2014/2015 Junior World Cup. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)

Legacy baby

Watts is often referred to as a legacy babysomeone who was brought into the sport as a direct result of Vancouver hosting the Olympics in 2010.

The family is grateful the sliding centre was built in Whistler, as practicing with a luge track in your backyard is something many kids don't get the chance to do.

There are less than 20 professional luge competition tracks in the world.

"I'm pumped," said dad Jim Watts. "He's worked very hard and it was just fantastic to see where the sport's taking him."

Olympic luge athlete shows his passion for the sport more than a decade ago

5 years ago
Duration 0:45
A home video shows a young Reid Watts on one of his early runs in 2009 at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

But living the dream comes with sacrifices as well. The luge athlete is away from his friends and family pretty much all year, living in Calgary in the summer practicing with the team, and travelling all winter to compete.

And the training can be intense. He's in the gym twice a day, five days a week, with additional training on top of that.

"Sometimes it can be tough. But at the end of the day I'm sledding for a job. So, it could be a lot worse. The passion keeps me going," he said.

Eleven-year-old Reid Watts met luge heroes Jeff Christie and Sam Edney during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. He went on to compete alongside the national champions. (Jim Watts)

With files from Jasmine Mani