Before sliding off to Europe, Palecek takes a few questions…
Q: Can you explain what luge is? What made you go into luge?
A: “Luge is a sport where you slide down on an ice track. It’s a sled with two runners, and you go through U-turns and 90 degree turns and the fastest time wins.”
“I think I got into luge when the YMCA sent out an email about the slider search. The slider search is a program to scout talent for luge and they invite kids under 15 to slide down a hill with sleds, but they have wheels on them instead of steel. Then, you slide down a hill and if they see you have potential, then they invite you to Lake Placid to do Luge.”
Q: Who made you get into luge?
A: “It was my dad that got me into luge. He was the one that found the slide searcher email that got sent out to parents. He brought me into it and then he’s been driving me up the Upper Peninsula of Michigan before I could drive.”
Q: What part of Europe do you go to train for your sport? What does it feel to go to Europe and do what you love?
A:“I go to Austria and Italy but I’m mainly in the South Tyrol region of Italy. When I go to Europe for training, it’s like a sense of freedom because when I’m there, I’m focused solely on my sport and the whole day is dedicated to the sport.”
Q: When you go to Europe for training, what type of training do you do?
A: “So for training, we either do full track days or segment track days and during full track days, we only get four runs a day, so you just walk up the hill and try to memorize everything. For segment track days, we work on specific corners where it is more technical focus days.”
Q: Outside of luge, what are some things that you are excited about?
A: “The food there is amazing, especially the pizza. It is unmatched from what we have in the United States. I also love just seeing mountains. When I wake up in the morning and go outside, there are mountains on either side of me and it is truly beautiful to see all these mountains everywhere I go. We sometimes are at the dolomites, which are a beautiful formation.”
Q: What are things that you love about luge?
A: “I like the technical tracks because it is more of a mental game. If your mental game isn’t good, you could have a horrible second run. Also, you can lose a lot of time by screwing up corners by just a little bit, so I like the unforgiving aspect of the technical tracks.”
Q: Any goals that you want to achieve through luge?
A: “I want to go to the Olympics. Currently, the sport is going through a bunch of changes, but my goal is to place top 10 in the seniors at least once and top 10 in the juniors.”
by Mark Jung
Published December 1, 2025
Oshkosh West Index Volume 122 Issue III