FIL looks forward to the season and the World Championships in Igls with confidence

By Luis Mahlknecht

Otherwise, FIL President Josef Fendt was pleased about the strong response to tobogganing. During this training week alone, 167 athletes from 31 nations and four continents were in Igls, where the World Championships will take place at the end of January 2017. This meant you could also get an idea of the hustle and bustle at the toboggan run, where people tobogganed through the ice channel practically around the clock from 7 a.m. to 20 p.m.

In his speech, Fendt also addressed the various “sponsorship projects” through which “stronger” nations help other second-tier teams to bring them into shape. Germany, Austria, Italy, Latvia and the USA look after the “exotics” from the toboggan world. One of these is 21-year-old Alexander Ferlazzo from Australia. The young man with Sicilian roots escapes the extremely hot summer in his native Queensland and - together with the Latvian team - races around the tracks in the northern hemisphere.

Of course, the Luge World Championships, which will take place from January 26th to 29th, 2017 in the Igls ice track, were also particularly presented in Innsbruck. The sprint competitions introduced last winter open the racing program on Friday, on Saturday it is the turn of the women's and doubles, before the new men's world champion and the best team (with the already established team relay) are crowned on Sunday. OK boss Markus Prock also wants to promote this in South Tyrol, as the tobogganers in the team of Kurt Brugger and Armin Zöggeler are among the favorites. Tickets can be purchased online via the website www.rodelwm17.at. It is recommended to drive directly to Innsbruck and use the shuttle services there (free for ticket holders), as there are very few parking options at the toboggan run in Igls.

On the sidelines of the FIL press conference, President Sepp Fendt made another interesting remark – from an Italian perspective: “The toboggan run in Cesana has not died. We hope and trust that interested people will take care of the matter and put it back into operation. With some good will it should be possible.”

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FIL looks forward to the season and the World Championships in Igls with confidence

The two-day media seminar organized by the International Luge Federation FIL was quite optimistic about the future. In Innsbruck and Igls, the media representatives were primarily informed about the concerns of artificial track tobogganing; natural track tobogganing was only a marginal topic.

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