(June 21, 20221) – For our fourth athlete profile of 2021 (and the 26th in the “Getting to Know…” series), we catch up with USA Luge’s Chris Mazdzer! Chris a three-time Olympian who will be gunning for his fourth Olympics in the 2021/2022 season. If it exists, he’s won medals in it: Nation’s Cup, World Cup, World Championships, all capped off with an Olympic silver medal in singles luge. During the most recent quad, Mazdzer has jumped onto the doubles sled to slide with Jayson Terdiman. Over the last few years Chris has also taken on the roles of FIL athlete rep and father!
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Slider: Chris Mazdzer
Team: USA Luge
Home track: Lake Placid
Hometown: Saranac Lake, NY, USA
Sponsors: Toyota USA
We do this every week, and this is no different: What’s your favorite track and why?
To pick a favorite is difficult obviously. Some people have that favorite, but I feel like every track in the world is a home track for me because I’ve been to them all so many times in my career. Honestly, I loved Whistler off the top because it was the pinnacle of the sport. It was intense, it was fast, and you really had to be on your game, it was crazy! That was exhilarating and fun…terrifying, but fun! St. Moritz is beautiful because it’s the only track that’s hand built out of ice every year and it’s so unique, but we don’t really go there. I’ve only been there twice to slide, and one of those times was this year, so to say that it’s my favorite is probably just because it’s new!
But I’d probably have to go Whistler then St. Moritz, they’re just special places.
What’s your favorite town on the schedule, unrelated to the track?
Oh man! I think, again, we’ve visited St. Moritz during COVID but I remember before then it being just such a cool town. Actually, Sestriere for Torino was a really cool town to stay in. You’re up in the mountains, and it’s this little vacation town in the middle of nowhere and I love that. Shoot man, I’m away from home so much I have to be able to find the good in everywhere I go otherwise I would just be miserable! And some people are just miserable on tour and that’s just how they want to be, but you can find something nice in every place and I think that’s really the thing. So it’s not so much “What’s your favorite?”, it’s more “What’s your least favorite and how do you get through it?” and that’s what really defines the season!
You’re currently in Switzerland as an Athlete Rep to the FIL Executive Board. What has that experience been like?
It’s been eye-opening! It’s so important to get the athlete perspective into everything and to really understand how the sport can best suit the athletes and how athletes can grow, promote, and develop the sport themselves. Then there’s also the other aspect of it, with the whole business side of it. There’s international relations, politics, the rules, and all of that is really important as well. And understanding how they mesh together or don’t mesh together and how we make that work has been really eye-opening and fascinating to understand. There’s how the international federations work, how the IOC works, and it’s been an incredible honor being able to bridge the gap and to help understand why the international federation does what it does but also figure out how to get the athlete perspective involved.
That’s what’s happening this week. The International Federation of Luge, we’re doing our strategic plan. We have multiple working groups, and we’re really putting together the final pieces together, and helping make those things athlete-centric is so important. I feel honored and humbled that I get to be able to stick up and say “You know, we really don’t like this, let’s not do this…” and start a discussion and work toward that. It’s been really good, hard sometimes for me personally having a new kid and having to leave sometimes. But it’s important that I go, Zoom calls are great, but when it comes to constant working being in person is just so important. Stuff will happen at the meetings and we’ll just be having lunch and talking and these off-thoughts and discussions that happen then will sometimes drive the next day. Those interactions are just so important to have and that’s why I need to be out here.
Have there been a couple of times where something’s been brought up and you’ve said something and other execs that aren’t athletes thought “Oh, we haven’t thought about that until you brought it up?”
Yes and no. Most people on the board here have been athletes at some point in their lives so they do have that perspective. But it may be a little outdated, which I think is probably what happens when you get the whole “Well when I was an athlete…” It’s like “Guys, you were an athlete 20 years ago, the sport has completely changed but more importantly athletes have changed! We’re growing up in a digital era and there’s so much more stimulus and so many more opportunities.” It’s not the same, and helping them understand that has been so important. Like social media alone, in the last ten years it’s crazy how things how things have changed. Our international federation is still fully onboard with German TV as its man broadcasting source. It’s like “Have you guys tried googling us? Can you watch a race…you can’t! Let’s start talking about how kids are supposed to find luge if they’re not in Germany watching TV.”
A few years back you made the jump back into doubles luge on top of your singles luge races. Was that harder, or just busier?
It was definitely a hard transition. There’s probably a reason that no artificial track athlete in the world does it? There’s probably a reason! It is challenging, it is difficult, and there’s more on my plate. In singles I just have to worry about myself, in doubles I have a partner and we share responsibilities and I have to make sure that I’m doing my part in addition to my singles responsibilities. So yeah, there’s a lot in play there, but I guess I just really enjoy a challenge. And deep down I knew that I could do this and that with Jayson we can do this and we might as well go for it.
It happened after the last quad and I said “I want to do both.” No one has really done both and I know I can do it. At first not a lot of people believed me. It’s funny, the USA Luge Association had some coaches that were supportive but they were fully prepared to go into the next year without a doubles team and not compete in the team competition and then kind of realized “Huh, he can do it, that’s weird and never really happened.” My intention is not to prove people wrong, but if you don’t believe in me then I guess that’s kind of what’s going to happen! Because I believe in myself and I’m ready to go!
Do you learn anything at all from one to the other, or do you have to block out what happens from one to the other?
That is the key question! Everyone’s like “Oh, it’s luge, it’s got to be the same!” And generally speaking sure: Feet first, head back, you pull the start with your hands, but as a top man I’m strapped to the sled. It drives differently, it’s definitely more difficult to drive, I have a teammate Jayson who I’m working with and the lines are different because we have more weight and the center of gravity is higher. Also there’s a speed difference, so it’s like you have to turn off one and then turn on the other. But you can get little bits of information from both that can be useful I think. It’s like “Hey, I’m having trouble in this one spot and in singles this seemed to work, let’s give it a try with doubles.” So there is some times when it can be beneficial, but generally switching back and forth…everyone has been doing singles or doubles for their entire lives and they’re absolute perfectionists in what they’re doing. To be perfect in both is definitely challenging, and sometimes it doesn’t go well but Jayson and I are figuring it out!
What is your pre-run warmup like? Does it vary based on singles/doubles?
During training there’s four sessions so sometimes I’m at the track half of the day! So if I’m just finishing one I’ll just go work on my sled or watch some athletes and not focus on the warmup. But the warmup is pretty much the same, it’s similar start movements. You want to be relaxed, fluid, you don’t want to be too tense because you need your body to feel all of the little things coming down to shoulders and feet. I’ll dance around a little bit after doing a warmup to just kind of make sure my body’s in rhythm. But otherwise they’re about the same. I’ll go for a run and get the heart rate up. You’ve got to make sure that your lats are activated, your shoulders are ready to take on that strain. Your lower back is ready to go because there’s a strain there. Hamstrings…if those things are tight they can hurt the back a little bit, so it just is about how you’re feeling. Because if you crash or hit walls and get banged up…I’m definitely not going 100% every day, so I’m really just kind of managing that for race time. Some days it takes a LONG warmup to get me going, and other days I’m feeling good and I’m going in at 80% because I don’t need to be at 100% every day.
When you’re not doing all of your FIL things, what do you like to do to unwind?
Right now working out, and building a sled for next year in the shed of my back yard. It was miserable yesterday, Salt Lake City had an all-time high of 106F and when I got out of the shed I was like “Oh! 103F feels nice!” Currently also working with two friends and we’ve started the process of building an adjustable dumbbell, but a mechanically put together adjustable dumbbell. It’s basically a lifting robot we’re trying to build right now. We’ve been working on that since July, they were just in Salt Lake about a week ago and we’re just about halfway there! Nothing’s coming to market yet but we’re planning for next spring!
You and wife Mara recently welcomed Nico into the world, how has that changed things for you?
Your time just disappears! It’s crazy, there’s a lot more laundry for sure. You wake up, you feed him, you burp him, you clean up, he goes down and you have like 20 minutes to do something and then he wakes up and you repeat! It’s just constant and some days you think “I didn’t do anything all day but I feel like I was super busy!” So your time just disappears, but it’s been really nice and really cool. He’s starting to smile now, starting to interact a little bit so that’s awesome. It’s great! It’s a lot, but you’re never really ready so you just have to go into it!
Have your last couple of seasons doing both singles/doubles luge and being busy with that prepare you for this at all?
You know, sometimes I can bite off a little more than I can chew, and sometimes I stretch myself really thin. But the way I look at it I have one more year like this and then I can focus on family more and it will not be as stressful next year. Unless we get more funding and the adjustable dumbbell takes off then it’ll be one thing into the next!
Tell us about your dog!
Kiki! She is a unique mix of Chihuahua and Heeler, she’s more Heeler though. So she’s this REALLY energetic dog stuck in this little tiny body. I run 5Ks with her, but also at the same time she’s super sweet because she is part Chihuahua so she wants to be held all the time. So it’s kind of nice: There’s no in between, it’s either “Hold me!” or “Let’s play!” It’s actually perfect! But she is kind of annoying because she talks a lot so you’re just feeding the baby and she’s there like “Hey don’t forget about me!” and I have to be like “Just stop yelling at me dog! My hands are full, I will play with you afterward, and I’m sorry but you now have a brother!”
If you weren’t sliding, what do you think you’d be doing with your free time?
I’d fill that time somehow, and that’s just who I am. I will always want to be a part of this sport in some capacity. Either I’ll be so far out there that people don’t know I’m involved. I do not care as long as I can help in some capacity, either if it’s small or if it’s slightly more than small. There’s another generation of athletes who are going to come through and I’m going to step out of the way and let them go through! I don’t know, I’d find ways to fill up time though. I get fascinated by certain things and I’d probably be diving into those. But I couldn’t even really tell you right now because I don’t want to think about that right now! I guess that’s why we’re starting an adjustable dumbbell company! At the beginning of the pandemic I was like “Man, all of these adjustable dumbbells are crap, they shake and just aren’t good, why can’t we just have one that feels like a dumbbell!” So that’s what we’re doing!
You used to be the young guy on the team, and now you’re the seasoned veteran. Do you remember when that transition happened?
I still don’t think that at all. Anyone can come up to talk to me, I’m an open book, but I’m surprised more people don’t come up and talk to me. I don’t know why people don’t, I’m an open book, and I’m always there to figure out how to help people out. The way I look at it, there’s less people older than me to talk to and that’s really all that’s changed. There’s a lot more of that. As far as “being the old guy on the team”, it’s not like I’m the old guy on the team, there’s just a lot of new, younger people. It’s not like “I’m the old guy,” it’s a lot more of “Wow, you’re really young!”
What has been your standout favorite sliding sport memory?
Olympic medal, hands down. The fourth run…walking out to the handles on the fourth run and just feeling good was really incredible. Knowing all of the pressure in the world was on and I didn’t execute on the final run I was going to be forced into retirement. I’d sold my car that year to have money to buy equipment, so I was going all in and if I skidded or touched a wall I was going to be starting my life over with nothing! Despite all of that pressure, just walking up to the handles…I even smiled just before that fourth run because it just felt good. It was weird, it wasn’t just coming up and seeing that I won an Olympic medal but that feeling of going to the ice potentially for the last time of my career and just loving it…that whole 20 or 30 minutes before that final run was just mentally one of the most amazing things because I felt good regardless of the outcome and that was a really powerful experience. Before my fourth run I was just thinking “I’m good! Life is good!” I think I even cried during my warmup, it was so weird and emotional! And everyone’s like “Oh, winning that silver medal…” but to me it was the 30 minutes before that run that’s one of the most powerful memories of my life! So I’d say that for sure is one.
My first medal ever in Whistler was huge, also I got sixth place in World Championships before that…I’ve had a lot of good experiences in Whistler! I’ve also crashed on the start in a one-run race so that’s another thing you remember! It’s like “Sixth at worlds! Third place! Crashed on the start before the first curve, shit!” Luge is all about managing those highs and lows and looking back it’s pretty cool. I also remember that night after crashing in the first turn loading sled boxes by myself and those things are like 150 pounds and I’m just yelling “SCREW THIS!” and I don’t know if Erin Hamlin at the time had packed her box and I’m like “I’VE GOT THIS ERIN!” and she asked if I wanted help and I was just like “NO!” I just think it’s really important because a lot of athletes define success by results, I think inherently as an athlete you’re predispositioned to define who you are by results but that’s not the case in reality. But it’s SO hard to get away from that mentality because a lot of things are results driven in life. At the end of the day you need to be able to know who you are and walk away regardless of medals, just learning more about yourself and enjoying the experience and really that’s the big takeaway. Learning that throughout my career that was probably my biggest achievement.
On that final run in Pyeongchang, you come up the finish curve and then there’s the line, did you know that you had nailed that run?
Yeah! I knew I’d done well enough to get a medal. David [Gleirscher] got me by .027, but coming up I knew I’d given it all. I can easily say that I had the four most consistent runs at the Olympics. When I finished I thought “Wow, I executed four flawless runs in really hard conditions and no one else did!”
What’s been your hardest memory in your career?
Oh man [laughs], easy questions here! Probably the Olympic year. Going into it I knew I slide really well, my starts were top ten consistently and at the Olympics I think I was fourth-fourth-sixth…I was strong and I was working out and I was sliding what I felt like was really good. But the results were just awful. They just weren’t there for whatever reason. And I’m typically not one to blame a sled, but based off of how I was feeling, knowing that…well knowing at the Lake Placid World Cup race in the 2017/2018 season we have the Sprint competition that takes the start out of it. In the World Cup I had the second or third fastest starts, and I’d qualified for the Sprint World Cup race. I had a run that I thought I’d won a World Cup with that kind of run and I’d come up in last place. I thought “This isn’t how I want to go out!” I’d been fighting and pushing…I’d sold my car to buy equipment, I’d bought equipment that season even though USA Luge told me I couldn’t do it…just knowing I was so much better than what the results had showed. Not just for one race but for multiple seasons. Because I’m an athlete rep I know I was last on the high performance plan. It was like “Who’s going to medal? Not Chris!” But I believed in myself and pushed enough to try enough things that it call came together through some really strange help from international friends. I got so lucky with the support of other competitors.
That was the hardest thing though, to not give up after weeks after weeks after weeks, and there’s nothing in it for me. You’re not getting much when you finish 28th in World Cup races. That was the hardest thing, years of that. And then it just came together. People will say “Oh, it’s not equipment!” but I’ll tell you what, I made two big changes on my sled and I went from 18th place to 6th in the World Cup, so it’s a part of it! It’s definitely a part of it, but you can’t blame it. You can’t blame your equipment, you first have to understand your equipment. You have to put in the time to learn it, and if no one is going to teach you that you need look for other ways. And if your organization isn’t going to help you then you have to try to figure out other things. So you can blame equipment but only after you’ve been blocked from getting better equipment. It’s only if you’ve been blocked from trying. The equipment wasn’t right and it took a LONG time to try to figure it out.
Question from Cynthia Appiah (CAN bobsled): What/where is your favorite restaurant on tour?
The Red Fox!
Where’s that?!
Krasnaya Polyana! So in Sochi, the track is technically in Krasnaya, Polyana, it’s up there. And Sochi, the ski resort there, is one of the best in the world. Russia built it like “This is our Switzerland”. You get tons of money that’s going to this place and you need a restaurant to support this. So that’s The Red Fox. It’s just such a daaaaaaaamn good restaurant. Prior to the Sochi Olympics our team stayed at this…hotel…it’s kind of like “We’re going to make this much food and when it runs out, it runs out.” And first off the food just wasn’t good. There might have been like a gas spill and their grains were stuck in that. Their grains kind of tasted like gasoline. So we’re there for two weeks and we were running out of food. I was trying to sneak into other hotels that athletes were staying at to eat, it was at a time when there wasn’t food to buy. But there was this restaurant called “The Red Fox” that was like five stars, and we’d splurge like every four days and get a couple of appetizers or whatever. And the food is just incredible, so if you ever go into Sochi, that is THE place. And it’s crazy, you’ll leave there at 11:00 PM and there’s still people coming in. They’ll take reservations until 1:00 AM. There’s kids coming in at midnight, it’s just one of those weird scenes, but the food is SO good. It was funny, we were eating either grains that tasted like gasoline or we were eating five star cuisine! Nothing in the middle!
