Berchtesgaden (ck) - 5 Questions for Josef Fendt, President of the International Luge Federation (FIL) 1. The budget for natural track luge has been remarkably increased. Which visible improvements do you expect? „We realized that some national federations are trying hard to support their athletes, but their structures are not on the standard of the leading nations like Italy, Austria or Russia. Those nations will receive FIL support, either through partnership programs with the top nations or by additional funds for equipment so that athletes who have reached a certain technical level will have access to competitive sleds. We will also reimburse travel expenses so that more athletes can take part in more events. As a result we hope that the gap between the traditional and the up and coming nations will be reduced or closed. A good example is the partnership between Italy and Canada and New Zealand where top star Patrick Pigneter personally coaches the junior athletes.” 2. The world cup rules are in a phase of changes with some novelties which will be tested in the coming season. What are your expectations? „We expect more interesting races and more nations within the top ten ranks. It was obvious last year in the two test events that even some of the top athletes did not handle the pressure of the new qualification well and did not make the world cup. Others seized the opportunity and achieved top results. An expert group scrutinized last year’s results and modified the format slightly. last year the new format was well approved by athletes and the media.” 3. One of the most criticized points is the lack of international participation in natural track luge. What are you doing to change this? „There are currently track projects in some countries like Poland or Croatia. Croatia will host the FIL Youth Games this year. Romania has two new tracks, one of them Vatra Dornei where the world cup final will take place this year. In Turkey and Switzerland everything is done to make the sport as professional as possible. Another project is the international instructor course which has just been completed. We had more than 40 entries and we could not even accommodate all of them. Eventually we could accept 23 participants from 11 nations. Goal of this course is to teach the basics in training methods and planning, especially for countries in which they do not have the structures of a profound trainer education. We expect improved coaching for young athletes and networking between the coaches.” 4. Again and again there are critical voices, saying that the FIL is not really serious with their plan to push natural track forward. How important is natural track really within the FIL? „I can personally contradict anybody who tries to badmouth our efforts. We have not only increased the budget, we have also started several targeted measurements, for example the installation of an expert group, the increased funding of world cup organizers or the improved support of projects of national federations. All the measures have one goal: make the sport professional enough to be included in the Olympic Program.” 5. The question for another attempt to get natural track included in the Olympic program is imminent. Are there any detailed plans? „This goal has never changed and it is included in the FIL strategy plan. But the first step is that we complete our homework. In detail this means: increase the participants in our championships. I expect up to 20 or 25 nations from four continents in this year’s world championships in Deutschnofen (ITA). As soon as this level is stabilized, we can move on to the next step. Talks with the respective people in the IOC are in preparation.”