The training week last February had to be cancelled after a few crashes, some causing major injuries, and the scheduled World Cup was postponed. In September the track was altered in the lower part. The Viessmann Luge World Cup on Saturday and Sunday (November 19-20) will be the next test for the facility just three months prior to the opening of the Winter Games. “Since the alteration the track is safer by a hundred percent”, says Italian Christian Oberstolz who won the World Cup opener at Sigulda, Latvia, in the doubles together with his partner Patrick Gruber. The 2004-05 Viessmann Luge World Cup champions and members of the Italian A and B squads were also present at the homologation of the track by FIL at the end of last October. Germany’s Silke Kraushaar and Russia’s Albert Demchenko are the current World Cup leaders besides Oberstolz-Gruber. While the 1998 Olympic champion achieved her 25th World Cup win at Sigulda, it was title holder Demchenko’s sixth victory in his career. If the training runs are not considered, all World Cup competitors are facing a new track at Cesana Pariol. The men’s start at an altitude of 1,686m above sea level is the highest ever at Olympic Winter Games (length: 1,435m / 19 corners / 117m difference in altitude). The women’s and doubles’ start is at 1,660m (length: 1,233m / 17 corners / 100m difference in altitude). The facility where the works at the buildings are not yet concluded, has a crowd-capacity of 7,130. Ivo Ferriani, the sports competition manager for bobsleigh, skeleton and luge at the Olympic Games, is planning an activity centre (“Tres Arena”), where the spectators are entertained by shows and music as a special attraction.