This was published 12 years ago
Sochi Winter Sports: Luge
One to watch:
Germany's Natalie Geisenberger won bronze at the Vancouver Winter Games and has won the last two World Cup women's luge championships. The glamorous 25-year-old will be one of the favorites to take gold in the women's single luge. She'll also be part of a strong German relay team which will include Felix Loch, Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt.
Fast facts:
Luge involves athletes hurtling down a man-made ice course of turns and straights while lying on their backs on hi-tech modern-day sleds. Competing on single or two-person sleds, athletes can reach speeds of up to 140kph in an event which made its Olympic debut at the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck.
Fast facts:
There are three different classes of competition; singles men, single womens and doubles. All classes compete on the same course, with the women starting down the course for a shorter run. Luge is generally accepted to be one of the most dangerous Winter Games events. Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died after this horrendous crash during training at the Vancouver Winter Games.
Fast facts:
Men and women's single sleigh events are held over two days, with competitors making two runs each day. The gold medals go to the competitors with the fastest total times.The double luge is held on one day with competitors combining the times from two runs to determine the medals.
New event:
Sochi will introduce a relay event for the first time. A women's single sleigh will start the relay, hitting a touch pad on reaching the bottom to open the gate for the men's single sleigh to follow. On reaching the bottom, the man will hit the touch pad releasing a double sleigh. The team's relay time will stop when the double sleigh team hits the touch pad. If any member of the realy misses the touch pad the team is disqualified.
Venue:
The bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton events will be held at the Sliding Center Sanki located in Rzhanaya Polyana, Russia, approximately 60 kilometres northeast of Sochi. The track will have 20 turns for men's singles luge, and 17 turns for the women's singles and men's doubles.
