FIL Takes "We Slide Forward 2034" Straight to Asia
Berchtesgaden/Beijing/Yanqing/Seoul/Pyeongchang, June 2026 – Less than two weeks after the 74th FIL Congress in Berchtesgaden, FIL President Einars Fogelis, Secretary General Dwight Bell and FIL Sports and Marketing Director Matthias Böhmer travelled to Asia for a series of high-level meetings in China and South Korea. The trip was a deliberate and heartfelt signal: the new FIL strategy "We Slide Forward 2034" is not a document for the shelf. It is a plan in motion – and Asia is at the heart of it.
China: Yanqing and the Foundation for a Four-Year Partnership
In Yanqing – the governmental district within the city of Beijing that hosted the sliding events at the 2022 Winter Olympics and will welcome the FIL World Cup in December 2026 – the FIL delegation was received by a distinguished group of representatives.
The meeting brought together Yan Haiying, Deputy Mayor of the Yanqing District People's Government of Beijing Municipality, Liu Qianxun, Director of the Beijing Yanqing District Sports Bureau, and Li Jianwei, Director of the Social Sports Management Center of the Beijing Yanqing District Sports Bureau. The technical operators of the Yanqing sliding venue – Liu Xiyao, President, Han Xiaoyan, Vice-President, and Wang Yong, Department Manager of Beijing Enterprises Zhikai Industrial Development Co., Ltd. – were also present.
The discussions focused on the current status of the venue and the sport itself in China, the potential of luge as a growing discipline in the country and the framework for a four-year cooperation agreement. Both sides found themselves on the same page. China and the FIL share a common ambition: to grow the sport, to develop the athlete base and to use the existing world-class Olympic infrastructure as a platform for sustainable long-term development. The Chinese leadership confirmed that all World Cup races in Yanqing will be fully televised and streamed to worldwide audiences – a significant commitment that will bring luge to new fans across the region and beyond.
Xing Shuo – President of the Chinese Luge Federation and newly elected FIL Executive Board Member at Large – underlined the importance of the occasion. "A close and committed cooperation between our national federation and the FIL is essential," he said. "We are ready to move forward together."
Korea: Seoul, Pyeongchang and a Partnership Built to Last
The Korean leg of the trip began in Seoul, where the delegation visited the headquarters of the Korean Luge Federation before moving to the nearby headquarters of the Korean Olympic Committee. There, KOC President Ryu Seung-min – Olympic champion in table tennis at the 2004 Athens Games and one of Korea's most respected figures in sport and Olympic affairs – hosted the delegation for a series of substantive discussions.
The talks resulted in a cooperation framework covering the next four years, with a clear shared objective: to grow luge across Asia in close partnership with the national luge federations, the FIL and the IOC's Olympic Solidarity department, a key partner in the federation's development work across the region.
A central outcome of the Seoul meetings was the finalisation of World Cup races to be staged at the 2018 Olympic Sliding Center in Pyeongchang through the 2030 Olympic season – securing the venue's place as a cornerstone of the international luge calendar for years to come. The Korean leadership also confirmed that all races will be fully televised and streamed to worldwide audiences.
FIL Sports and Marketing Director Matthias Böhmer subsequently travelled to Pyeongchang to conduct a site inspection of the sliding facilities and met with the Mayor of Pyeongchang to discuss the venue's role in the sport's future. The visit reinforced the strong local commitment to making Pyeongchang a permanent and thriving home for international luge competition.
Adding further significance to the Asian World Cup calendar, the tracks in both Yanqing and Pyeongchang are expected to be designated as Olympic Qualifying events. This status will substantially raise the competitive stakes at both venues and further elevate the profile of luge across the continent.
A Region, Not Just Two Countries
The significance of this trip extends well beyond China and Korea. The sliding venues in Yanqing and Pyeongchang are assets for the entire region – tracks that can serve athletes from countries across Asia that do not have their own infrastructure. Cross-border cooperation, shared training opportunities and the development of new national programmes are central to what the FIL and its Asian partners are building together.
"It is not only the federations in Asia who are committed to this direction," said FIL President Einars Fogelis. "National federations across the continent and globally are moving the same way, and the FIL works closely with all of them – supporting, cooperating and building together."
The growth agenda in Asia goes beyond World Cup organisation and the legacy of the Olympic sliding tracks. While the Olympic Games remain the ultimate goal, alpine luge and street luge – disciplines that require no permanent sliding infrastructure and can be practised on hills, ski slopes and public spaces – are of particular interest to the federation's Asian partners. They are central to the FIL's mission of making the sport accessible to new nations and new audiences, from Bangkok to Beijing and beyond.
The Road Does Not Stop Here
For Fogelis and Bell, the travel continues without pause. Both will be in Lausanne on 24 and 25 June for the extraordinary IOC Session, followed immediately by the General Assembly of the Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (AIOWF), where they will meet with counterparts from across the Olympic winter sports movement.
Summer may be the off-season on the track. For the FIL leadership, it is one of the busiest periods of the year – preparing the coming winter season on one side, and on the other, laying the long-term foundations that "We Slide Forward 2034" demands.
