Zach Lund American skeleton racer Date of Birth: 22.03.1979 Country: USA

1. Zak Lund's Biography
2. Early Life and Education
3. Introduction to Skeleton Racing
4. Doping Controversy and Comeback
5. Personal Life and Family

Zak Lund's Biography

Born on March 22, 1979, in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, Zak Lund is an American skeleton racer who has been participating in competitions since 2000. He has achieved notable success in his career, including winning two bronze medals at the World Championships organized by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. One of these medals was earned in 2007 in the men's skeleton event, while the other was obtained in 2008 in the mixed bobsleigh-skeleton competition. Lund also finished first in the overall World Cup standings in 2007.

Early Life and Education

Zak Lund grew up in Alta, Utah, where his parents owned a daycare center. He attended Jajj Memorial Catholic High School and graduated in 1998. Currently, he is studying aviation at Westminster College with the aim of becoming a firefighter pilot. His father, Mac, is a captain in the Salt Lake City Fire Department.

Introduction to Skeleton Racing

Lund initially had aspirations to compete in alpine skiing at the Olympic Games. However, when he was 13 years old, he received an invitation to a camp in Lake Placid. During this period, he learned about his mother's cancer diagnosis, which led him to pause his athletic development. Nevertheless, when a new track was built in Park City for the 2002 Games, Lund began training in skeleton racing and eventually joined the national junior team.

Doping Controversy and Comeback

In the 2005-2006 season, Lund participated in the Skeleton World Cup but was unable to compete in the 2006 Winter Olympics due to a doping scandal involving finasteride. He was stripped of his second-place finish in the Calgary World Cup after testing positive for the substance. Lund claimed that he had been using finasteride to combat hair loss for seven years, strictly for medical purposes. The substance was only added to the banned list in 2005, and Lund had last checked the list a year before the incident. Despite the arbitration court believing the athlete's explanation, he was still suspended from competition for one year.

However, Lund returned to the World Cup circuit and became the overall champion in the 2006-2007 season, declaring, "I'm back, in every sense of the word." After missing two consecutive Winter Olympics, he finally made his debut in the 2010 Games in Vancouver, expressing gratitude for the opportunity to compete and acknowledging the challenges he had faced along the way.

Personal Life and Family

Zak Lund was briefly married and has a daughter named Alissa, who is now six years old. Alissa lives with her mother in Texas but visits her father during the summer and Christmas holidays. Lund, who experiences hair loss, once remarked, "Who needs hair on their head when you have a beard to compensate for it?" Indeed, without hair, Zak appears more serious and intimidating. He always carries a medallion given to him by his late mother, Penny, as a reminder of her presence and support.