POTSDAM — A Potsdam resident earned a spot on the USA Luge Junior National Candidate team following a successful training and competition season in Lake Placid, and Park City in Utah.

Seth Coates, 14, is also a finalist for the Empire State Winter Games Athlete of the Year.

Coates won the gold medal in the Luge Youth A division at the Empire State Winter Games in February. He competed in both the Norton Youth Nationals and Junior Nationals races in Utah in March. Coates finished in the top 10 in the Youth A division at Nationals and is seeded fifth going into the 2022-23 season. He was the youngest competitor on the track in the Junior Division race, placing 13th overall.

“I’m pretty proud of what I accomplished this season,” Coates said. “I went all-in this year to see what I can do, and I saw the benefits of that hard work. I’m looking forward to getting stronger and faster and pushing myself to new heights next year on the C team. Aidan Kelly and all of my coaches gave me the opportunity to develop both on and off the track this year, and I couldn’t have gotten to this point without their coaching. I’m thankful for their confidence in me.”

Following two seasons of sliding with the Adirondack Luge Club , Coates was named to the USA Luge Junior Development team in May of 2020. No competitions were held for his team in the 2020-21 season due to pandemic-related restrictions on training. Coates hopes to contend for a slot to represent the USA in the 2024 Youth Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

For more information on USA Luge, visit www.usaluge.org. To learn more about the Adirondack Luge Club, visit adk-luge.com.

Team Coates will be fundraising this year to support his training and development in the sport and his competition travel. For information about sponsorship and fundraising opportunities to support Seth, contact sethcoates.luge@gmail.com.