Cesana Pariol (pps) The first official training week of luge athletes at the Olympic track in Cesana Pariol (Italy) was overshadowed by several crashes. Four athletes were injured so severely that they will have to stay in hospital for a while. Most seriously injured is Brazil´s Renato Mizuguchi, who was taken to hospital unconscious after crashing and had a head operation. According to Ivo Ferriani, Sports Competition Manager of the Olympic artificial track, Mizuguchi is in a stable condition. Anne Abernathy (Virgin Islands) suffered a fractured collarbone.

Austria´s former World Champion in doubles, Wolfgang Linger, crashed at the entry to curve 17 and suffered a complicated fracture of his left ankle and a fracture of his calfbone. Meanwhile the Tyrolian was operated on at the university hospital in Innsbruck. However, this is also the end to the team`s dreams of competing at the World Championships. Linger/Linger had one this season`s first Viessmann World Cup in Altenberg.

Latvia`s Maija Tiruma also had to be admitted to hospital after her crash. The diagnosis is not known yet.

According to Karl-Heinz Anschütz, Sport Coordinator of the International Luge Federation (FIL), the crashes were caused by individual mistakes and not by flaws in the newly constructed track. As a precaution, every athlete who crashes is now taken to the hospital by the medical service team at the track. Ioan Apostol, coach of the so-called FIL Group, in which athletes from small countries are trained by experts, and Korea have withdrawn their teams from the World Cup final next week (February 5/6).

On Tuesday morning, training had to be cancelled due to strong winds.