Lillehammer (RWH) The International Luge Federation’s junior athletes will be fighting for the championship title in an Olympic environment on Friday and Saturday (January 16-17, 2015), when the FIL’s 30th Junior World Championships are held on the Lillehammer track in Norway, which hosted the 1994 Olympics. The World Championships for the young lugers can also be seen as a rehearsal for the second ever Youth Olympic Games, which will take place in Lillehammer next winter. Defending champion Andrea Vötter of Italy has decided not to race in the Viessmann World Cup in Oberhof (GER), and instead will chase medals in Scandinavia, as will teammate Sandra Robatscher, who won silver last year. The women’s Junior World Cup rankings are currently headed by Germany’s Jessica Tiebel, while Roman Repilov of Russia leads the men’s rankings. Repilov will be challenged by the USA’s Tucker West. The Sochi Olympian, who also won a gold medal in the 2012 Innsbruck Youth Olympic Games, shocked the luge world last month in capturing the Viessmann World Cup in Lake Placid. Russia is also at the top in the doubles, where Stanislav Maltsev and Oleg Faskhutdinov head the list.