Even though the “real winter” still has not arrived in Europe, the temperatures have fallen enough to allow the World Cup season to start. The track in Latsch/Laces in the north Italian mountains is ready for the season opening on January 3rd, two weeks later than the originally scheduled date in December. Most teams have had a chance already to do some training runs on the track which all experienced athletes will still remember from the 2005 World Championships.

„We will have a very interesting and very tough racing winter“, says FIL Race Director Herbert Wurzer, „in only two months we will have six World Cup races, World Championships as well as European Junior Championships. This is for sure a tight schedule.” At the first of all these events, top athletes like Austria´s European Champion Gernot Schwab, Italy´s World Cup winner Patrik Pigneter and Russia´s top star Ekaterina Lavrentjeva will be expected. Teams from USA and Canada will skip the first European event and take this result as their cross-off result in the World Cup. They will arrive for the second race of the season.

At the end of the season all European athletes will have to cross the Atlantic for the highlight of the season, the World Championships in Grande Prairie (CAN). “The first World Championships outside of Europe are definitely a special event for the FIL”, said FIL president Josef Fendt in the pre-season press conference. Due to the tight schedule of the luge season there will not be very much time for extra training units. Which means: whoever presents himself in a good condition in Latsch/Laces, will also be a medal contender later in the World Championships.