50th FIL Luge World Championships: 149 athletes from 23 nations will take part

Berchtesgaden (FIL): A total of 48 women, 43 men and 29 doubles from 23 nations have registered for their participation in the 50th FIL Luge World Championships from 29 to 31 January 2021 in Berchtesgaden-Königssee. The athletes come from Argentina, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Latvia, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden, Chinese Taipei, Ukraine, USA and the Russian Luge Federation (RLF). According to a ruling of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on state doping in Russia, Russian athletes have to appear neutral at championships. Therefore, they are only allowed to compete at the World Championships in neutral clothing, without the national flag or anthem and without country designation. Should a Russian luge athlete win, the FIL anthem will be played at the victory ceremony.

Defending Champions are the 2020 Sochi World Champions
The Russians Roman Repilov, Ekaterina Katnikova and the doubles team of Aleksandr Denisev and Vladislav Antonov will travel to Berchtesgaden as defending champions in the Sprint Worlds. In the classic events, Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken from Germany won the 49th FIL Luge World Championships 2020 in Sochi for the third time. In the singles disciplines, 26-year-old Ekaterina Katnikova from Chusovoy and 24-year-old Roman Repilov from Dmitrov were able to repeat their victories from the sprint. They became double World Champions. At the Team Relay World Championships on Sunday, 16th February 2020 on the 2014 Olympic track in Russia, the German quartet with Julia Taubitz, Johannes Ludwig and Toni Eggert / Sascha Benecken won ahead of the team from Latvia with the single sleds of the siblings Kendija Aparjode and Kristers Aparjods and the brothers Andris and Juris Sics in Doubles. The team from the USA came third with Summer Britcher, Tucker West and Chris Mazdzer / Jayson Terdiman.

Relocation of the World Championships from Whistler to Königssee 

Normally, the 50th World Championships would have been held in Canada in 2021. On September 2nd 2020, the Executive Board of the International Luge Federation, FIL, together with the Canadian Luge Federation, decided to relocate the World Championships planned to be held in Whistler, Canada. The reason for this was the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the associated strict regulations in Canada. The world's first artificial track at Königssee in Bavaria was chosen as the new venue. This means that the Luge World Championships will be held for the seventh time in Berchtesgaden area, from 29 to 31 January 2021. Immediately after the construction of the world's first artificial track, the World Championships were held in 1969 and 1970. This was followed by the Luge World Championships in 1974, 1979, 1999 and 2016 at Königssee near Berchtesgaden.

Dominator Felix Loch – the great World Championship favourite.

The six-time World Champion in the singles category, Felix Loch, is considered the absolute World Championship favourite. The three-time Olympic champion sees it that way himself. Felix Loch doesn't want to talk himself out of the role of favourite: "With this season, I'm probably everyone's favourite for the World Championships on my home track. That's just the way it is, I can live with it and I've worked hard for it." Most recently, the 31-year-old, who competes for the Berchtesgaden Luge Club, claimed his ninth victory in the tenth race of the EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup in the Olympic Ice Canal in Innsbruck-Igls and was still overwhelmed by the gold rush: "Somehow I am speechless at the moment. You can only dream of a season like this. I am really looking forward to the World Championships in Koenigssee. Living at home again for a week and sledding at home is very appealing". The dominator of the 2020/21 season very much regrets that no spectators can come to the World Cup races and looks back wistfully on his last home World Champs in the year 2016: "I really, really enjoy racing at Königssee. It's an incredible pity that we won't have any fans there. The 2016 World Championships were amazing, I will never forget what happened on the track”.
All local heroes won at the last World Championships at Königssee 

In 2016, 120 athletes from 24 nations and four continents competed at the World Championships at Königssee. After the triumphant runs of Natalie Geisenberger and the doubles Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt, Felix Loch also lived up to his role as favourite in 2016. The local hero won his fifth World Championship title at that time. At the end of the World Championships on Sunday afternoon, the four Bavarian lugers also secured gold in the team relay. The Olympic champions and newly crowned World champions Natalie Geisenberger, Felix Loch and the doubles team Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt relegated the teams from Latvia and Canada to the other medal places and won Germany its sixth relay gold at World Championships in a row.

All four local heroes will be at the start again at the 50th FIL World Championships from 29 to 31 January 2021. It remains to be seen how they will do five years after their total success? The world elite have become broader. More and more nations are competing for the podium places, with that also being the case on German tracks. World Cup overall winner Felix Loch has already secured the title of World Champion six times. This puts him on a par with the South Tyrolean Armin Zöggler, who has won a total of ten World Championship medals in his career in singles. Felix Loch has won eight medals at the World Championships so far. With a victory in Koenigssee, Loch would be the sole leader in the World Championship statistics and would immediately become the most successful luge athlete at World Championships. If the local heroes Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt win in the doubles, they would also pass the old champions Patric Leitner/Alexander Resch, who are at the top of the rankings with four World Championship titles. The same goes for their Thuringian rivals Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken. Both doubles are the leaders of the still active luge athletes with three titles each. In the women's event, Natalie Geisenberger (Germany) would have the same chance. If she becomes World Champion in Königssee, the 51-time winner of a World Cup race will draw level in the World Championship statistics with her former rival Tatjana Hüfner (GER), who ended her career in 2019. Hüfner is the leader with five World Championship titles, Geisenberger has already won gold four times at World Championships in the Singles category.

Despite the Covid-19 crisis and without any fans or spectators at the World Championships track at Königssee, the Luge World Championships promise to be extremely exciting in all disciplines and competitions.

Schedule 50th FIL Luge World Championships Berchtesgaden-Königssee (GER):

Friday, January 29th, 2021

09:00 am     Qualification Sprint-World Championships
12:45 pm     Sprint World Championships 
12.45 pm Men, 13.40 pm Doubles, 14.30 pm Women

Saturday, January 30th, 2021
09:30 am    1st  run WCh Doubles
10:50 am     2nd run WCh Doubles 
12.50 pm    1st  run WCh Men
15.00 pm     2nd run WCh Men

Sunday, January 31st, 2021
10:00 am     1st  run WCh Women
11:50 am     2nd run WCh Women
13.30 pm     Team-Relay WCh

Subject to change. Times local Germany (CET).

For more information on TV times, the announcement, training and competition results, see the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/fil-world-championships-7