It took only three seconds.

Georgia's Nodar Kumaritashvili is pictured just before his fatal crash at the Vancouver Olympics on Feb. 12. AP PHOTO

Sliding faster than ever in his life, 21-year-old Nodar Kumaritashvili had one turn left in his final Olympic training run Feb. 12. Flirting with 145 kph on a $100 million track pushing speed to the outer limits, the luger from the Republic of Georgia tilted his head slightly forward as his sled climbed the high-banked wall.

It was his last move.

Kumaritashvili lost control, crashing into the wall entering the final straightaway. His body went airborne, arms and legs flailing over the opposite side of the track, his upper body smashing into an unpadded steel pole as his sled continued skidding down the track. It all took just 48.9 seconds, start to crash.

Paramedics began working on Kumaritashvili within seconds, quickly starting chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but he was pronounced dead at a trauma center in Whistler, British Columbia.

This was Kumaritashvili's second crash during training for the games, the first coming Feb. 10 in the opening session. He also failed to finish his second of six practice runs.

His last recorded speed Feb. 12 was 143.04 kph, measured near the last curve. He was on a higher path — line, they call it in luge — through the final turns of the track than most sliders, and the combination of speed and gravitational pull was too much for his 79-kg body to control.

Sliding diagonally, Kumaritashvili smashed into a corner entering the final straightaway feet-first. He was knocked off his sled and sailed in the other direction, coming to rest on a metal walkway after his upper body smashed into the post.