Sochi (RWH) The 2014 Olympic track in the Russian town of Sochi will be hosting the 46th European Luge Championships in the 2014/2015 season. The history of the European Championships goes back to 1914, when over 100 years ago the first championships were held in Reichenberg, today's Liberec in the Czech Republic. The first ever European champions were Rudolf Kauschka, Anna Skoda and the doubles duo Erwin Posselt and Karl Löbelt, all of whom were racing for the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. And the winner in the men’s singles had a lead of nine seconds. From 1980, the European Championships were held every two years, and since 2012 the European Champions have been determined during the Viessmann World Cup. They are now on the International Luge Federation (FIL) race schedule every year. Today’s FIL President Josef Fendt won the silver medal at the 1973 European Championships. The gold medal that year in Königssee (GER) was won by Hans Rinn for the former GDR, who collected a total of seven European Championship gold medals in the course of his career, four of which in the doubles together with Norbert Hahn. Rinn is one of just five male lugers to become European Champion in both the single-seater and the two-seater, the others being Martin Tietze (GER), Paul Aste (AUT), Horst Hörnlein (GDR) and Paul Hildgartner (ITA). Of the European female lugers, Maria Isser is worth mentioning. The Austrian athlete, who died in 2011, is the only female to have won not only four European Championship gold medals in the singles, but also one in the doubles in Davos (SUI) in 1954, competing as a duo with her brother Josef. The siblings also took silver in the first ever FIL World Championships in the Norwegian city of Oslo exactly 60 years ago.