Igls (pps) Josef Fendt, the President of the International Luge Federation, FIL, initiated a meeting between Walter Plaikner, head coach of the Italian Luge federation, and Thomas Schwab, head coach of the German federation and accompanied by three-time Olympic champion Georg Hackl, to discuss their recent arguments on the occasion of the Viessmann Luge World Cup last weekend at Igls, Austria. In the two-and-a-half hour meeting oil was poured on troubled waters.

The arguments has arisen because the German lugers accused Walter Plaikner, also Chairman of the Technical Commission of FIL, to be the source of accusations of manipulation towards the German team. Plaikner emphasised that he only had considered the sled of German national champion Jan Eichhorn as not conforming to the regulations upon optical inspection and had said so. Plaikner vehemently rejected any specific accusations of ma-nipulation towards the German team.