At the beginning of January, the stage of the World Cup in luge sports is planned in Sigulda, which will also be an important Olympic qualification competition. It is still not clear whether the competition will actually take place in Latvia, because the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) allows the International Luge Federation (FIL) to return Russian athletes to the competition under a neutral flag. The Latvian Luge Sports Federation (LKSF) is working to ensure that the competitions in Sigulda are held without participants from the aggressor country.
At the end of November, Russian athletes already took part in competitions included in the Olympic qualification in Cortina, but in Sigulda they are prohibited by the Sports Law in force in Latvia. Instead of Sigulda, other places abroad are already ready to take the stage of the World Cup without opposing the participation of Russian athletes.
There is no clarity about the luge World Cup scheduled in Sigulda at the beginning of January
The stage on the Sigulda track is planned from January 2 to 4, i.e. on the first weekend of 2026. It will be the fourth stage of the World Cup and the fifth competition, the results of which will be included in the overall ranking of the Olympic qualification.
Currently, both versions are still being heard unofficially – the competition could take place in Sigulda or the athletes will compete on another track.
LKSF Secretary General Kristaps Mauriņš stated in a conversation with Latvijas Radio on Wednesday that detailed information should not be given, but work is underway to ensure that the World Cup stage in Sigulda will take place without Russian athletes in the group of participants.
Six Russian luge athletes competed in the Olympic qualification competition in Italy, and this could indicate that the same number of unwanted participants would also apply to ride in the stage in Latvia. However, it is clear that
In case of participation of Russian athletes, the competition would take place outside of Latvia, and LKSF does not want to allow that.
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“We plan to successfully hold the World Cup stage in Sigulda, which will also be the Olympic qualification stage and which is very important for our athletes. At the moment, we are not considering the possibility of canceling the stage [vai] move to another place,” said Mauriņš. “We have approached both [Latvijas] The Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Education and Science, of course, also the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So at the moment the communication is still active. We will come to the opportunity to hold the stage in Sigulda without unwanted participants.”
There is also no set deadline by which a decision must be made, however, it should be expected that moving the competition and preparing another track takes quite a bit of time. In addition, athletes arrive at the venue of the competition on time, and not on the last day before the start.
The World Cup stage at the Lake Placid track in the USA will end on December 21, followed by the Christmas holidays, after which the teams will go to Sigulda. Therefore, it can be concluded that the competition will be hosted by Sigulda, if it is not moved to another track by Christmas.
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