The 20-year-old athlete will be heading to Europe in December to represent New Zealand in not one but two world championships — the Curling World B Championships in Finland, followed by the Luge Junior World Championships in Norway.
Burke said the prospect of competing in two international contests between December and February had not fully sunk in yet.
"Every time we go, it doesn’t really hit me until the day or two before I fly out," he said.
A passionate sportsman who juggled "six or seven" sports, moving around the Otago region when growing up, Burke said he had only seriously taken up curling and luge in the past six years.
Since then, he had represented New Zealand in numerous competitions for both sports, including luge at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Based in Dunedin, Burke said one of the greatest challenges he faced competing in winter sports was keeping up with his northern hemisphere counterparts.
While he travelled to Naseby each weekend to train for curling, New Zealand’s sole luge track was not only different from the artificial ones used in professional competitions, but was also only available between six and eight weeks each winter.
"For athletes in Europe and North America, they pretty much train all year round," he said.
"Since there’s no track here, there’s not much I can do over the summer period and for the whole offseason, really.
"It’s more just staying fit."
Long term, Burke hoped to compete in luge at the 2026 Winter Olympics, though he acknowledged his inability to travel throughout the Covid-19 pandemic had proved to be a setback for his preparation.
"It won’t make things easy."
As for curling, Burke said he would like to jump from B grade to the A grade before he ages out of the junior league.
"I’ve got one more season after this one before I age out of juniors.
"The goal would be to get back to As."
In between training and studying civil engineering at Otago Polytechnic, Burke was raising funds to support his trip to compete in Europe, an effort he said had largely been co-ordinated by his mother Megan Burke.
"She sorted the raffle, and the GoFundMe page and all of that.
"She’s doing everything she can.
"I would definitely be nowhere near where I am without her, that’s for sure."
