After some difficulties, the World Luge Federation FIL has created facts for the coming winter and has excluded the Russian athletes from its competitions until further notice.
The executive made a corresponding decision on Saturday (September 24th, 2022) as part of its autumn conference in Imst, in response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Reacts depending on the situation
“For reasons of safety” for the athletes, according to the official statement, the Russian athletes and their support team are “temporarily excluded from participating in FIL-sanctioned events”. Depending on how the situation develops, the FIL will react again.
Already in the spring after the beginning of the war, the executive of the FIL had decided to expel the association, but this initially failed due to its own statutes: the association’s own arbitration court overturned the measures for legal reasons.
“Emergency paragraph” in association statutes
In view of this “unsatisfactory situation”, the FIL management sought solutions with its legal committee. As part of the FIL Congress in June in Hall/Austria, an “emergency paragraph” was included in the association’s statutes, which the executive could now refer to.
The luge world cup 2022/23 starts in Innsbruck-Igls at the beginning of December, in February it also stops three times in Germany: once in Altenberg and twice in Winterberg. The 2023 World Cup will take place in Oberhof at the end of January.