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Hayden sliding toward career best
By Jon Lundin // February 14, 2007
SIGULDA, Latvia --- Ashley Hayden (Westborough, Mass.) could finish the 2006-07 women’s singles luge World Cup season as the highest ranked U.S. slider since Cameron Myler won the series overall bronze medal in 1998. The 25-year-old Hayden enters Saturday’s Feb. 17, series finale, in Sigulda, Latvia, ranked sixth overall, with 327 points. She is just a single point out of the fifth place spot and 21 points shy of the fourth place overall position.
“Finishing fourth has definitely been on my mind,” remarked Hayden, whose previous best World Cup ranking was in 2004, when she finished eighth overall. “I don’t know if it’s reachable… I would need some help, but I certainly would be happy if I finished the season fifth overall.” The last U.S. women’s singles slider to finish a World Cup series fifth overall, was Becky Wilczak-Brand, in 2002.
On her way to a team-best sixth place ranking this season, the Salt Lake City Olympian raced to five top-10 series finishes, including a season-high fourth place result in Nagano, Japan. “I think that I’m fairly happy with the way that I’ve slid this season,” noted Hayden. “My goal this year was to make sure that I had two solid runs during each race, and I think that I was able to do that. I wasn’t happy with my times at each race, but that’s something that I’ll be working on with the coaching staff during the off-season.”
Traditionally, Hayden has struggled on the 1,200-meter long course. Her best finish came in 1999, when she raced to a ninth place result. “This is one of the more difficult tracks on tour,” said Hayden. “I think it’s more technical than what people realize, it has tight curves and you need to drive the sled aggressively. Also, the start curve is perhaps the most difficult part of the track and you really need to be steering the sled all the way down through curve-14.”
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