Salzburg (ck) As the President of the International Luge Federation (FIL), Mr. Josef Fendt announced in front of journalists at the airport in Salzburg, Austria on December 1st, 2003: "We will start very confidently in the new season“. In the fringe of this meeting, President Fendt informed about some sports political aspects regarding the development of the sport of luge on natural track. President Fendt threw a glance on the future: and the future will be very exciting.

The RED BULL World Cup:
There are six competitions on the events schedule; to launch the World Cup circuit on natural track in Olang in the middle of December (provided that the temperatures will be falling and the event organizer can prepare the track with three snow cannons to a suitable condition so that the races can be held / the replacement date would be scheduled from January 9 - 11, 2004); the parallel competition in Triesenberg (Liechtenstein) will follow before the World Cup circuit goes to Canada at the beginning of January 2004: Right now, the temperature there is approximately minus 30 degrees celcius and the track is more or less ready for the races. However, in Grande Prairie the puma and the grizzly are saying "Good Night“ to each other. Therefore, the population in North America is getting ready to protect themselves from the dangers of the nature.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is the German contribution to the World Cup, and at the end of January, the race will be held in Moscow before the World Cup Finale will go to Aurach. This event will be a celebration for the sport of luge. The track has been completely rebuilt for € 60,000.--; this competition will be broadcast live on ORF by means of 19 cameras and SAT1 will for sure broadcast this race. Furthermore, there are still negotiations with the television stations of N24 and Pro7. "The winter can come“ said Roma Mitterer, the Chairman of the luge club "RV Aurach“, who speculates on a huge interest of spectators. Aurach applies for the World Championships in 2007 and would like to come into the international limelight by conducting this World Cup Finale.

The European Championships:
Much work has also been done on the track in Hüttau, where the European Championships will be held from February 6th to February 8th, 2004. The luge racing track called "Höllgrub“ has been extended, and appropriate pathways and space have been created for spectators at the track. By building a new 1,500 meters long pipeline, the water supply has been guaranteed and also allows the use of snow cannons. Since 1998, Hüttau has been on the event schedule of the FIL. In that year, an Intercontinental Cup race was organized and one season later, the World Junior Championships, the Austrian Championships and the ARGE Cup followed in the year 2000; the highlight of the season 2001 in Hüttau was the World Cup Finale and in the seasons of 2002 and 2003, there were World Cup competitions held in Hüttau. "Also in this season, we won’t dissapoint the expectations that have been put on us“, said the Chairman of the sport club, Mr. Reinfried Schlojer. "Every club of Hüttau will take part in the fringe events, and in the marquee, popular bands will put some life into the party.“

The World Junior Championships:
The fourth Junior World Championships in Natural Track will be held from January 29th to February 1st, 2004 in Kindberg, Austria. This village in Styria, which a World Cup race was successfully organized at short notice in the past winter season, follows the villages of Fenis-Aosta (ITA/1997), Hüttau (AUT/1999) and Gsies (ITA/2002). "The track has been extended and the finish house completed“, reported the Chairman, Mr. Karl Heinz Vollmann. "Our goal is to have the track used daily during the winter season“, said Mr. Ferdinand Baier, the Chairman of the high performance luge training centre.

Financial Background:
The overall budget of the FIL for the sport of luge on natural track in the 2003/2004 season amounts to approximately € 300,000, stated Mr. Josef Fendt and Mr. Harald Steyrer, Vice-President of Finance. This means a clear increase compared with the two years before; € 175,000 will be raised for the development program of the sport of luge on natural track. Component of this initiative is a club sponsoring program, in which clubs or federations support athletes from other countries. € 40,000 will be paid out as prize money in addition to travel subsidies for National Federations, flight costs for jury members and technical delegates etc.
This money will be paid by the FIL; the funds that the agency Federer/Gschwendtner pays for marketing the World Cups, will be almost completely forwarded by the FIL to the clubs organizing the events. Dr. Martin Gruber, who himself was a successful athlete a few years ago, is responsible for the development program for the sport of luge on natural track together with FIL coach, Mr. Karl Flacher. "Our aim is to increase the number of nations participating in our international competitions from currently 15 to 18 up to 20 or even 23 nations“, declared President Fendt. "It is not so important for us to reach an absolute record with regards to the number of participants and then to report a decrease in the following competitions. Much more important for us is to reach a permanent increase regarding the number of athletes and nations. Perhaps the initiated support programs will not yet have an effect on this season, but certainly in the future. The sport physician from South Tyrol, Dr. Max Regele is responsible for medical matters in Natural Track Luge within the new Medical Working Group of the FIL.

The Athletes:
Apart from Elvira Holzknecht, all the stars continue to participate. Last year, Robert Batkowski (AUT) and Sonja Steinacher (ITA) won the overall World Cup and the World Championships and will have to confirm their past successes in this season. The young Russian doubles team of Pavel Porschnev/Ivan Lazarev, who also won the overall World Cup and World Championships, are ready to demonstrate what they can do this season. Stars like Gerhard Pilz (AUT) or Toni Blasbichler (ITA) also continue to compete in this season. The brothers Gerald and Roland Kallan are also in the focus of attention as the European Championships will be held on their home track in Hüttau.