Berchtesgaden (FIL) At its regular meeting held in St. Leonhard near Salzburg on April 28/29, the Sport Commission artificial track of the International Luge Federation (FIL) dealt, among others, with the team competition, which was tested very successfully in the past season. A decision regarding the continuation of this new competition format is expected for the FIL Executive Board meeting, which will take place in Vienna, Austria, on May 11/12, 2007.

Meetings of the FIL Technical Commissions artificial and natural track and of the Sport Commission natural track were also held in St. Leonhard at the past weekend. As the FIL Statutes allow for rule changes every two years only (in even years), the meetings focused on the analysis of the past winter and an exchange of ideas regarding future competition rules.

It was the constituent assembly for all four expert commissions in their new composition after the 2006 FIL Congress. The newly-elected athletes’ representatives Jeff Christie (Canada), Martins Rubenis (Latvia), Florian Batkowski (Austria) and Anton Blasbichler (Italy) participated in the meetings for the first time, just like the former successful luge athletes Georg Hackl (Technical Commission artificial track) and Markus Prock (Sport Commission artificial track).

On Sunday, FIL President Josef Fendt, who had returned from Asia from meetings of the Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (AIOWF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), only on Saturday evening, was informed on the outcome of the meetings and concluded them with a few final words.