Milano/Italy (RWH) One of the most popular and successful figures on the international luge stage is taking his bow. In Milano the Italian athlete Armin Zöggeler from Lana near Meran in South Tyrol has announced the end of his career.

The 40-year-old from South Tyrol is the first winter sports athlete to have claimed six medals in succession at as many Olympic Games. The 2002 and 2006 Olympic champion won his third bronze this year on the track in the Sanki Sliding Centre at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, to add to those earned in 1994 and 2010. Zöggeler also collected silver at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan.