Bengt Otto Walden (born April 16, 1973 in

Nacka Nacka () is the municipal seat of Nacka Municipality and part of Stockholm urban area The Stockholm urban area ( sv, Stockholms tätort) is the largest and most populous of the statistical localities or urban areas in Sweden. It has no adminis ...

) is a retired

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

-born, American luger who has competed since 1985, internationally since 1988, when he joined the Swedish national team. He married American luger

Ashley Hayden Ashley Walden (née Hayden; born November 5, 1981, in Framingham, Massachusetts) is an American luger who has competed since 1998. She won two silver medals in the mixed team event at the FIL World Luge Championships (2004, 2005). Hayden also ...

in 2006, and joined the United States national team in 2007. He switched his citizenship from Sweden to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

in 2009 in order to be able to compete as an American at the 2010 Olympics. Walden retired from competition after the 2010-11 season. Subsequently, he was appointed as coach of the Norwegian national luge team.

Career

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

: He finished 23rd in the men's singles event at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soó ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

competing for Sweden. He competed at the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May Doan Nancy GreeneWayne Gr ...

for the

, finishing 15th. *

FIL World Luge Championships The FIL World Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place on an almost annual basis in non- Winter Olympics years since 1955. These championships are shown for artificial tracks. See FIL World Luge Natura ...

: Walden has competed twice for the US in the World Luge Championships, as well as once for the Swedish team. In 2007, he placed 13th, competing for Sweden. Competing for the US, he placed 12th in 2008, and sixth in 2009.

References

External links

* * * 1973 births Living people Swedish male lugers American male lugers Swedish sports coaches American sports coaches Olympic lugers for Sweden Olympic lugers for the United States Lugers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 2010 Winter Olympics American people of Swedish descent People from Nacka Municipality Sportspeople from Stockholm County {{US-luge-bio-stub