Liberec (pps) The International Luge Federation (FIL) intends to include the Team Relay competition in the program of the Winter Games of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). „We hope that we will succeed in including this discipline in the program of the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi“, explained the President of the International Luge Federation (FIL), Josef Fendt from Berchtesgaden, Germany, in his report to the 57th FIL Congress in Liberec (CZE). „There have already been some preliminary talks and we will soon submit an official application to the International Olympic Committee within the given time limit”, Fendt continued.
According to Fendt, the world federation is still determined to include natural track luge in the Olympic program. “We stick to our goal of filing a new application for 2018, which we consider a realistic target. We know that in the next few years there is much to do to achieve our goal”, said Fendt.
Fendt, who has been heading the world federation for 15 years now, said that the past season was „marked by many superlatives“. As examples he mentioned Erin Hamlin, who is the first-ever female luge athlete from the USA to ever win a World Championships title; the fact that at the World Championships in Lake Placid six nations won at least one medal for the first time in FIL history; as well as the participation of 17 nations at the Junior World Championships in Nagano, Japan.
„We are looking forward to an exciting 2009/2010 Olympic season“, said Fendt. However, the FIL President expressed concerns about the quest for ever higher speeds in the ice track. At the Viessmann World Cup in Whistler, World Champion Felix Loch (GER) had achieved a new world record of almost 154 kilometers per hour. „I have already emphasized both in writing and in talks that we must return to acceptable speeds for the next Olympic track in Sochi, for example“, Fendt said.
