From Lake Placid, USA
(Oct. 5, 2020) – United States Luge announced on Monday that, much like their bobsled and skeleton counterparts, they would be sitting out the first half of the international competition calendar and joining the tour at the beginning of 2021.
“We are a group that’s geared and motivated by racing,” said USA Luge’s CEO and Executive Director in a statement released by USA Luge. “So to take this action is disappointing. But in counsel with our team physician Dr. Eugene Byrne, and getting input from other health experts, we believe that staying in the U.S. until the end of the calendar year is our safest course of action.”
The United States national team will now train in Lake Placid in November and December, and hold their Norton National Championships just before the holiday break. In the new year the team will join the tour in Königssee before competing in Sigulda, Oberhof, and Igls in World Cup action. World Championships will be held on the last weekend in January before the tour heads to Yanqing for the final World Cup event, the test event on the 2022 Olympic track.
“This is certainly not the schedule that we envisioned, but it’s one that has been thrust upon us,” USA Luge head coach Robert Fegg said in a statement released by the organization. “In the short term, we are anxious to return to sliding and getting as many runs in as possible prior to heading overseas. In the meantime, our athletes are working every day on achieving faster starts in our new refrigerated training center, as well as working diligently on their physical conditioning.”
