Latvian Federation under new Leadership

Riga (FIL) Klāvs Vasks has been elected as the new President of the Latvian Luge Federation (LKSF). On Thursday, 7 July 2022, an extraordinary general meeting of the Latvian Luge Federation (LKSF) was convened in Riga. Thereby, the LKSF Board as well as the President were newly elected.  The President of the International Luge Federation, FIL, Einars Fogelis, FIL Executive Director Christoph Schweiger as well as the Deputy State Secretary of the Sports Department of the Ministry of Education and Science Edgar Severs also participated in the General Assembly.

After 22 years as President of the LKSF, Atis Strenga did not stand for re-election as President: "In the 22 years, our coaches, athletes and LKSF office staff formed the foundation of our federation. First it was Edvīns Ķimenis in the federation, then Vineta Kesele. In recent years, the two ladies Dace Gods-Romanovska and Dace Ābeltiņa have done a lot of work. Of course, the coaches also play a big role. During these years I had to work with many coaches and thanks to them the athletes were able to achieve the highest results. The president has only one reward for his work: that is when the athletes receive their medals. Those minutes when medals are put around the neck, that is the salary of the President," said Atis Strenga. He will remain in the sport of luge. At the recent FIL Congress in Austria, Strenga was elected to the FIL Sport Commission for four years.

Klāvs Vasks was unanimously elected as the new President of the Latvian Luge Federation and said: "The position is responsible. It holds great responsibility towards the entire luge sports family and all fans.  The Latvian Luge Federation has grown and developed in the right direction over the last twenty years.  A fantastic sports pyramid has been created to turn children and young people into Olympic medallists.  I think this direction will continue so that we can find the best talent and enable them to stay in luge.  We will try to work a lot on technical innovations that will give us an advantage over our competitors.  The workload will be big, but we have a strong team.  All of them are luge enthusiasts. I think if we continue like this, our success will not be lost."

Long-time General Secretary Dace Gods-Romanovska was elected Vice-President of the LKSF and Kristaps Mauriņš, the current sports manager and coach of the Latvian national luge team, was elected as the new General Secretary of the LKSF.

LKSF members elected seven board members: Kristaps Mauriņš, former manager of the Latvian national luge team, Roberts Plūme, bronze medallist of the XXIV. Olympic Winter Games, Normund Grava, head judge in luge, Iluta Gaile, former luge athlete and successful businesswoman, Atis Strenga, former LKSF President, the head coach of the Latvian junior and youth national team Zinti Šaicān and the head of the Murjāņi Sports Gymnasium "Children and Youth Luge School" Daci Ābeltiņa.

Iluta Gaile, participant in four Winter Olympic Games thanked: "Thank you for this opportunity.  I was really very surprised to hear that you wanted to put me on the board.  Thank you very much. I have continued to follow the sport of luge all this time since my career ended. I have been commentating on luge competitions for five years, I really, really like it.  I have founded two recruitment companies and am currently running them successfully.  Of course, I will continue to do that every day, because I have a great team that we work with all over the Baltic States.  But luge is my great love, so I am wholeheartedly ready to help Klaav with ideas and their implementation."

photos: LKSF