Hans-Jürgen Köhne celebrates 50th birthday

Lillehammer (RWH) Hans Jürgen Köhne from Germany, Vice Chairman of the Youth Commission of the International Luge Federation (FIL), celebrated his 50th birthday on the same day as the qualification races for the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in February 2016 were held in Lillehammer (NOR). The 1994 Olympic track was also the scene of celebrations for Olesya Mikhaylenko from Russia, German luger Paul-Lukas Heider and the Russian doubles pairing of Evgeny Evdokimov/Alexey Groshev, who all got their YOG season off to a flying start by taking World Cup victory in the youth categories.
Hans-Jürgen Köhne was appointed to succeed his Swiss predecessor Sepp Benz at the 2014 FIL Conference in Innsbruck. He is also club chairman of BSC Hallenberg which hosts the Viessmann Luge World Cup on the artificial track in Winterberg each year. The labyrinthine ice track in Germany’s Hochsauerland region is set to stage the final of the Viessmann Luge World Cup this winter. Köhne also succeeded in bringing the 48th FIL Luge World Championships to Winterberg in 2019.