Leon Haselrieder in Innsbruck-Igls. © Photo Hermann Sobe / Hermann Sobe

Is the Igls World Cup in jeopardy? "Simply too dangerous."

The homologation of the rebuilt and renovated Olympic ice track in Innsbruck-Igls has not proceeded as planned and is still pending. Time is of the essence, as the World Cup season is scheduled to kick off in North Tyrol on the first weekend of December.

10 November 2025

From: apa/sn

Defects in the area from curve 13 to exit 14 were discovered during test runs by Austria's elite luge athletes on Sunday and, to a slightly lesser extent, on Monday. A third attempt is scheduled from Friday to Sunday. The World Cup season opener is planned for the first week of December on the track in North Tyrol.

Specifically, over a construction period of 20 months, the lower third of the track was redesigned, the run-out was lengthened, a new women's start was built, and a new finish house was erected in the roundabout area. However, technical problems quickly became apparent during practical testing, and the runs had to be aborted. On Monday, the area between gates 13 and 14 again proved to pose an unacceptably high risk of falls and thus a safety hazard. The international federations IBSF (bobsleigh, skeleton) and FIL (luge) must give their approval.

Luge stars warn: "Unacceptable"

“It’s frustrating, as this was explicitly pointed out beforehand,” said Austrian Luge Federation (ÖRV) head coach Christian Eigentler regarding the weakness. The coach and his team are now relocating their training to Altenberg. Olympic champion David Gleirscher added: “We mustn’t forget that we did the few test runs from the old women’s start; that’s 30 km/h too slow. If we were to start from our usual starting height, it would simply be too dangerous, as things stand today.” Wolfgang Kindl commented that it was “definitely unacceptable” for inexperienced lugers if even the best couldn’t get a clean run.