West Islip's Aidan Kelly racking up medals in luge

Luge -- sledding down an, inclined ice course with curves and twists at breakneck speeds while supine -- surely comes with its risks.

Let's go back to last winter: Aidan Kelly was recovering from a fractured vertebra, a concussion and broken right fibula sustained in a crash during the Adirondack Icebreakers luge race in December 2010. The sled skipped on a curve and his head slammed into a wall, he said. Kelly actually crossed the finish line, unconscious, before the sled capsized. And his time was good enough for second place.

The 17-year-old West Islip native said he still suffers occasional back pain. However, he said, it was worth it.

Two months later, he broke his ankle during a practice run days before the Youth National Championships. The injury cost him the remainder of the season, and that was his low point. And still, he said, it was worth it. So the three medals (two bronze, one silver) that clanged around his neck earlier this month after the U.S. Luge Association Junior Nationals . . . "They mean a whole lot to me," Kelly said. "I'm proud of myself."

The two-day competition at Olympic Park in Utah, which began on March 1, was decided by the combined times of four races on a 1,315-meter course. Kelly, who took third overall, finished 0.379 behind the winner, Ty Anderson.

Before that, he won the Icebreaker race on Dec. 12, turning around the previous year's misfortune. And an eighth-place finish in December's Junior World Cup has Kelly ranked 12th in the world in the Under-20 circuit. "It's very exciting to see him do well," his mother, Meredith Kelly said, "but I do hold my breath every time he goes down a track."

The sleds can reach speeds of 95 mph and his family is well aware that there have been tragic accidents.

"I've had enough of my own crashes to know how dangerous this sport is," Kelly said. But his motivation: "My family and I have put so much into this. Why give in after how far we've come?"

He has gone far in just four years. Kelly grew up playing baseball and skateboarding, and first saw luge on TV in 2008. "The speed" is what piqued his interest, he said. Soon after, there was a luge recruitment tryout in Farmingville. Youngsters were taught the basics, Meredith Kelly said, and the ones who showed the most potential were invited to audition at Lake Placid in December 2008. Aidan made the cut and, "after those first couple runs, I was hooked."

He now lives at National Sports Academy, a boarding school and training center in Lake Placid that houses winter sports athletes.

The setting allows him to focus on honing his skills, and the 1-6 p.m. class schedule is accommodating, Kelly said, though he admits, "it's tough being away from home and my mom cries every time I'm leaving." But, he said, his eyes are set on the 2018 Olympics.

And, to him, it's all worth it.