The FIL World Luge Championships 2009 ran on 1–8 February 2009 at the
bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in
Lake Placid, New York,
United States for the second time after having hosted the event in
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
. They were awarded the event at the 2006 FIL Congress in
Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden () is a municipality in the district Berchtesgadener Land, Bavaria, in southeastern Germany, near the border with Austria, south of Salzburg and southeast of Munich. It lies in the Berchtesgaden Alps, south of Berchtesgaden; the ...
,
Germany.
Event preparations
In a September 17, 2008 interview with FIL, FIL Vice President for Sport Claire DelNegro stated that preparations proceeding well. DelNegro, a former director of the
United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (headquartered in Lake Placid), stated that she hoped that "...these championships will be a real challenge for all participating nations." A "Scholastic Sliding Challenge" (SSC) organized by the
Olympic Regional Development Authority, the
Lake Placid bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track operating authority, and included 22 schools in the Lake Placid area.
[ (26 September 2008 article accessed 3 October 2008.)] This program was a continuation of a program that was started at the
2007 World Championships in
Igls,
Austria that continued at
last year's world Championships in
Oberhof, Germany.
It was also used for the
upcoming FIBT World Championships held later in February 2009 on the same track.
The
track
Track or Tracks may refer to:
Routes or imprints
* Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity
* Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across
* Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...
was iced down on October 6, 2008, the earliest it has ever been iced in preparation for both the FIBT and FIL championships. Opening ceremonies took place on 6 February 2009.
Television coverage
Television coverage was provided by the
German public TV station
ARD as part of their shows on the 7th and the 8th.
[ (2 February 2009 article accessed 2 February 2009.)] Eurosport provided live coverage both of the women's singles event on the 6th and of the men's singles on the 7th.
Coverage was seen in the United States and
Canada on demand with
Universal Sports.
Participating countries
As of 21 November 2008, 21 countries agreed to participate in the event. These included the host United States,
Germany,
Austria,
Russia,
Czech Republic,
Moldova,
Italy,
Romania,
Norway, and
Venezuela.
Luge World Cup leaders
As of 2 February 2009, the leaders of the
2008-09 Luge World Cup were as follows:
Jury and technical delegates
The jury was chaired by
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
's
Joseph Benz with other members being
America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
's John Mowry and
Austria's
Markus Schmidt.
[ (2 February 2009 article accessed 2 February 2009.)] Technical delegates were headed by
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
's Einars Fogelis with other members being
Slovakia's
Walter Marx and
Norway's Bjoern Drydahl.
Men's singles
7 February 2009. Run 1 took place 12:15 - 13:55
North American EST (17:15 - 18:55
UTC) while Run 2 took place 14:30 - 15:25 EST (19:30 - 20:25 UTC).
[2009 championships schedule - accessed 21 November 2008 (site delinked).]
Loch repeats as world champion, setting the track record on the first run. Pfister earned his first individual medal at the championships.
Women's singles
6 February 2009. Run 1 took place 13:00 - 14:20 EST (18:00 - 19:20 UTC) while Run 2 took place 14:45 - 15:30 EST (19:45 - 20:30 UTC).
Hamlin set the track record in the second run to become the first non-European and the first American to medal in the women's singles luge event at the
Winter Olympic or world championship level. Yakushenko is the first Ukrainian to medal at the championships. Two-time defending world champion
Tatjana Hüfner
Tatjana Hüfner (born 30 April 1983) is a German retired luger who has competed since 2003.
Career
She won the bronze medal in the women's singles at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and the gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. ...
of
Germany finished sixth despite setting the start record during the second run. This was the first time a German did not win this event at a
World Cup, Winter Olympic, world championship, or
European championships
The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...
since 1997 and the first time in the Winter Olympics, world, or European level since
Italy's
Gerda Weissensteiner
Gerda Weissensteiner OMRI (born 3 January 1969) is an Italian luger and bobsleigh pilot who competed from the late 1980s to 2006. Competing in six Winter Olympics, she won the gold medal in the women's singles luge event at the 1994 Winter Ol ...
won the women's singles gold medal at the
1994 Winter Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...
in
Lillehammer
Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...
.
Doubles
6 February 2009. Run 1 took place 10:00 - 10:50 EST (15:00 - 15:50 UTC) while Run 2 took place 11:20 - 11:55 EST (16:20 - 16:55 UTC).
The Italians won their first ever championships. Florschütz and Wustlich only trailed Plankensteiner and Haselrieder by 0.008 seconds after the first run. Martin and Grimette won their fifth doubles bronze medal.
Mixed team relay
8 February 2009 from 11:00 to 12:00 EST (16:00 to 17:00 UTC).
Loch won his second gold of the championships.
[ (8 February 2009 article accessed 8 February 2009.)]
Medal table
References
{{Luge World Championships
FIL World Luge Championships
International luge competitions hosted by the United States
2009 in luge
2009 in sports in New York (state)
2009 in American sports
February 2009 events in the United States
February 2009 sports events in the United States