In months of agitated work a brand new luge track according to all thinkable modern standards has been established at the Nitehawk Ski Area at the outskirts of the city of Grande Prairie. The fourth and fifth competitions in the FIL World Cup season will be held at Nitehawk, but it will also be a test event for the 2007 World Championships which will be hosted by Grande Prairie.

After a first inspection the athletes were highly impressed by the track which is a fast one on top and a technically challenging one in the second part. It will be crucial to adjust to the demands of the track as the upcoming two races will bring about an early decision in the World Cup and leave the athletes with only one more race in Europe.

In the men´s event Austria´s new European Champion Gernot Schwab (189 points) will most likely need two full scores of 100 points if he wants to take the World Cup trophy away from Italy. World Junior Champion Patrick Pigneter (ITA) leads with a score of 270 points ahead of his Italian fellows Florian Breitenberger (209) and Anton Blasbichler (190).

In the women´s event the season so far has been a demonstration of Russia´s Ekatharina Lavrentjeva with three wins in three races. Only recently in the European Championships she could be beaten by the Italian sisters Christa and Renate Gietl as well as the young Austrian World Junior Champion Melanie Batkowski. It will be seen who feels most comfortable on the new Nitehawk track, but however, it will be a tough task to take the overall World Cup from the Russian.

Just the opposite is happening in the doubleseater´s event. With three different winners in three races this is – like in the past years already – the most open event. The Austrians Beer/Kögl (270) are strong contenders, but can´t relax with their Austrian fellows Schatz/Mühlbacher (230) as well as the Russians Porschnev/Lazarev (225) chasing them. Should the Polish double Laszczak/Waniczek (192), runners up in last years World Cup, find back to old qualities they certainly should not be ruled out of contention. The races for the first out of two World Cups will start Thursday at 10 am.

Track Info:

Elevation at start: 660m
Elevation at finish: 535m
Difference of elevation: 125m
Length: 980m
Average Descent: 12,7%

Programme:

Wednesday, March 1st, 2006:
10.00am: Begin of training runs
7.00pm: Opening Ceremony

Thursday, March 2nd, 2006:
10.00am: 1st competition run doubles (I)
afterwards: 1st competition run women (I)
11.30am: 2nd competition run doubles (I)
afterwards: 2nd competition run women (I)
1.00pm: 1st competition run men (I)

Friday, March 3rd:
10.00am 2nd competition run men (I)
11.30am Medal Ceremonies World Cup (I)
12.30pm 1st competition run women (II)
1.00am 1st competition run men (II)

Saturday, March 4th:
10.00am 2nd competition run men (II)
2nd competition run women (II)
12.00 pm 1st competition run doubles (II)
1.00pm 2nd competition run doubles (II)
2.00pm Medal Ceremonies

Chris Karl
FIL Media Service